


Silver and Cold

by See1like



Category: Okane ga Nai
Genre: Alternate Universe - Prison, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Dark, Dubious Consent, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2018-09-27 11:21:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 57,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10017698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/See1like/pseuds/See1like
Summary: A twist of fate rips Ayase Yukiya from his pleasant and predicted life. He finds himself in a deep space punishment facility-950A, where killers and rapists rule. Can he survive such harsh environment?





	1. In The dead of night - Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone :-)
> 
> Please don't mind me dragging my stories from FF.Net over here so I could have a backup and a chance to edit some parts again.
> 
> But if this story is new to you- I hope you'll enjoy it!
> 
> This story is something I had on my mind for a long time; it takes place in a futuristic AU. It is a bit dark and sad and I warn you- it will have a plot!
> 
> OOC behavior is unavoidable, but I'll try not to stretch the limits too far.
> 
> You can expect violence, cruelty, mature contents, so minors- stay away!
> 
> I'd like to warn you also about the Yaoi theme (BoyXBoy) but since you are already in the Okane ga nai fandom, you're probably into it to begin with, lol.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I, I came here by day,  
> but I left here in darkness  
> and found you, found you on the way.
> 
> Now, it is silver and silent.  
> It is silver and cold.  
> You in somber resplendence,  
> I hold..."
> 
> A.f.i

The ship slowly glided down into orbit and attached itself to the massive steel anchors of the landing zone. It could have been a breathtaking sight, if he was not so overwhelmed with fear.

The gigantic gas planet hovered above them glowing with gas layers as bands of vibrant colors, orange and purple and red, like some radioactive striped cat. The landing zone itself was striking and beautiful, tall and thin metal rocks surrounded the landing site, like huge razors tearing through the ground and the sun rays glittered and danced between them like through mirrors.

"Airlock in 40 seconds." the announce system declared with electrostatic indifference.

Ayase shrunk into his seat, breathing so fast that it made him dizzy and he felt like vomiting. To think that only few weeks ago he was walking on solid ground under blue skies and the only worry on his mind was a test he had to take in statistics which he did not had the chance to study properly and had a very reasonable chance of flunking.

But that was before they came in the middle of the night, knocking on his shabby apartment's door. Like a nightmare come true, a black squad appeared at his doorstep and they pointed guns at him.

"Are you Ayase Yukiya?" the commander of the force asked.

"Whhaa?" he mumbled half asleep, glaring at the black clad soldiers without a single shred of understanding.

"Voice identification conformed." one of the soldiers said, looking at his tablet.

"Yukiya Ayase…" said the commander of the group, looking at him coldly "I arrest you under the authority of the Union. You are charged with treason and I have orders to bring you to the court of justice."

"What?" Ayase could not believe his ears, but the hands that grabbed him were hurting, harsh and ho so very real.

He was yanked out of his apartment, only dressed in skinny pjs, in the dead of night, not a single soul saw how they pushed him down the elevator and led him to the dark street, wet with rain. Near the pavement waited a massive black hammer, its engine was on and its heat spread ominous fume to the chilled air.

"Get in." was the last thing any of the soldiers bother to tell him, and a hand shoved him onto the leather seat, after that he was ignored completely.

The windows of the hammer were blacked and nothing passed through them, not ever streetlights. Ayase tried really hard to concentrate and follow the curves and turns on the road, hoping to calculate how far they have gone from his apartment, but the driver was speeding and he was too nervous so he soon lost track.

The ride through the city was extraordinary silent, giving the fact that he was surrounded by a dozen of overgrown strangers. He could not see faces behind their masks, but their body language clearly stated that they were bored.

How could this be? Are they so accustomed to picking up innocent folks out of their beds in the middle of the night and driving them to hell knows where.

Where were they heading? When will they take him back home? How much time will this ride last?

Ayase knew there was nothing he could talk out of them. There was nothing he could do to stop this insanity, so he kept quiet.

Strangely, he didn't cry, he was too much in shock for that matter but at that time, the only thought that still nagged his head was- who was going to feed duke, his goldfish, that he had left behind so carelessly.

The first night of his new hellish life he spent in a dirty humid cell, where rats' shadows ran on the walls and a sound of dripping water from some loose tap accompanied his thoughts the whole night through. Needlessly to say, he did not get too much sleep, he tried as hard as he could to remember what he could possibly had done to be considered a traitor. Every aspect of his life he pushed out of memory and analyzed every move he made, and every person he had ever talked to, any post he ever published on his social-network wall. Everything seemed so ordinary, banal, even borderline boring and so he gave up at dawn.

'This is a mistake.' he concluded. 'A foolish, random mistake…' Ayase sighed deeply, convinced that tomorrow this stupid mix-up will be solved and everything will return to normal. With this thought, the boy faintly closed his eyes and sunk into sleep.

The next morning came as a brutal shock, he opened his eyes and for some few good moments, he refused to believe what they registered. He was not in his bed, not in his room, he was lying on a thin, stinky mattress, covered with a rough raggedy blanket. He stared at his cell's walls until one guard banged his club on the cell's bars, making Ayase jump into seating position.

"Breakfast." The guard announced and pushed a plate through the bars.

Ayase could only glare at him.

The guard smiled and shook his head "Come on, kid, this may be your last meal, so come and grab it."

Was this advice an act of kindness or cruelty, Ayase could not make up his mind, but he did get up to take the bowl. It was milk porridge and it was too runny and sweet.

Ayase forced himself to eat a few spoonfuls, before tossing the bowl away with disgust. A sudden sense of urgency surged in him.

"Get me out of here!" he screamed. He never screamed before. "Get me out of here! Somebody, please!"

"Shut up!" the guard yelled too. "Shut up or I'll make you shut up!"

And Ayase crushed on the dirty floor, crying his heart out for the first and not the last time.

Few days later, he was brought to the court to be judged. He waited and longed for that day. He had prepared speeches in his cell, he polished his arguments about injustice and his perfect flawless past. He practiced his clam that this was all a big misunderstanding and when they came to take him to see the judge he was more than ready, he gathered a fighting spirit that he never thought was in him.

Yet everything went wrong from the start. He thought he'd have a fair chance to speak his voice, but he was shocked to find that the court ran like an assembly line rather than a civilized place of deliberation. He was lined up with all the other accused, and the line moved at a pace of one person in five minutes. This made no sense at all, how could a fair trial be held in under five minutes? But the judge's hammer pounded on the desk in a fast rate. Ayase found himself pushed to the front of the line.

He raised his eyes to the judge, an old bald man that seemed like he couldn't keep his eyes opened. This was not a good sign, but Ayase had no choice, he had to speak now or be silenced forever. He breathed deeply and opened his mouth with determination. "Sir, may I begin with…"

"Huh?" the judge ogled him.

"Sir, I'd like to start by saying that…"

"Make him shut up." The judge commanded the clerks with a yawn.

One goon of a clerk stepped towards the boy and Ayase gulped, he knew that if he goes on he would be beaten or even worst.

"Show me the evidences." The judge continued and a clerk approached his seat with a stack of papers.

Putting his glasses on, the judge glanced at the documents and than he sighed. "Those are serious convictions here." He lifted his eyes off the files and eyed the prosecutor.

"I know, your honor, we demeaned a death penalty."

"Death?" Ayase choked on his words. "Please let me see what I'm charged in!"

"Death won't serve us well here." The judge said calmly. "too mundane, don't you agree?"

"Please, let me see the files!" Ayase screamed, pleading with tears.

"What do you have in mind then, your honor?"

"A far more effective punishment, if you may."

"I'm not a traitor!" Ayase started crying again, but he was completely ignored.

"I've heard that in 950A they ran out of candy." The judge smirked and the prosecutor glanced at Ayase and started smirking too.

"I see your point, your honor, 950A it is." The wooden hammer came down again.

The hooking anchors screeched as the ship settled in position.

"Airlock in 20 seconds." The announce system repeated. "Welcome to 950A, everyone."


	2. Morning glory

"….Seeking candy, who sleeps around  
Afraid of telling, tiny sounds  
Left for dead, left for good  
Left for dead, not understood  
But you...always came back for MORE…"

**Whale - Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe**

 

** Morning glory **

 

Waking up from a nightmare became a habit of his a long time ago. He swung up panting and drenched in sweat, automatically reaching for his pack of cigarettes. He helped himself with one and after taking in few draws of calming, warm smoke, he felt his heart slowing down and its pounding stopped overbearing the usual background noise.

As always, he was the first to wake up, way before the official alarm. In the shelter of his bed, behind the curtains, he could hear the rest of his teammates snores and mumbling.

Smirking, he finished his cigarette, once he stopped counting the days he spent in this godforsaken hellhole, he actually began to like this shit hole and call it home.

'Am I adjusting or just losing my mind?' Kanou wondered for a while before realizing that whatever the answer is, it was not going to promote him anywhere.

Stretching and yawning, he got out of his bed and changed into fresh sweatshirt and trainers, all black, off course. After wearing his running shoes, he opened the curtains and gazed at the hall. The huge cell was crowded with beds, some single beds and some bunker ones, some had improvised curtains for a bit of privacy and some did not, and all beds were occupied with sleeping inmates, of variety of skin colors, sizes and hygiene states. Not such a lovely sight.

He passed between the beds, careful not to wake anyone, and eventually reached for the gate.

"Open up." he said, aiming his gaze upwards, where a small robot strolled its way on the ceiling's rails. The robot responded by getting near the cage as much as its track allowed it, then it sent blue rays, scanning Kanou's chiseled features.

"Biometric identification: Somuku Kanou." a rather feminine voice emerged from the robot's voice system. "Request accepted, opening gate."

The automatic gate opened and locked again behind him, saying thanks to a robot would be stupid and it strolled on anyway, so Kanou opened his new day with the routine morning run.

He usually ran six to ten kilometers per day, covering most of the sections in this level. He ran pass the dormitories of the teams in his section, there were three teams in the northwest section: his team, the black one, and there were the green team and the brown team. After he passed the dormitories where most of the prisoners still slept, he ran through the mechanic section and the water treatment facility, he could carry on running on the perimeter where the other three dormitories' section laid but he chose to make a u-turn and head back into the gym.

Staying fit in this low gravity field was more than a luxury; it was a matter of survival. Most of the prisoners did not get it, and they allowed their body to decay, many paid for their laziness with their lives, but for Kanou it was also a matter of pride, he refused to let go, even if he saw no particular reason for staying alive.

He entered the gym and searched for the weights and much to his surprise, the gym was already occupied. Kanou frowned as he recognized the man inside, all clad in green with a yellow bleached hair on top, Gion looked like some exotic parrot, and as such, the man would rarely shut up.

"Hey, big brother!" Gion welcomed him with a shining smile "Up so early? Lucky for you, though, you'll be the first to know! Why so serious, my friend? I do have some big news for you!"

"I thought it was the Greens' turn downstairs." Kanou mumbled and picked up the heaviest weight and began his lift-ups.

"Yeah, we were supposed to be downstairs, Nissan, but oddly enough, the venting system got jammed so they had to let us back up."

"The venting system got jammed again?" Kanou snarled, "This place is fucking falling apart."

"I know, dude, but this is old… I have some good news to share, grand scale epic! wanna hear it?"

"Do I have a choice?" Kanou frowned again, and lay down on the matters to work on his abs.

Gion on the other hand, was not into training at all, he set down next to Kanou, smiling like a child holding up a wonderful secret and relishing on every second he manages to keep it to himself.

"There is a rumor moving around, I heard it from Roger of the Purple team and he heard it from Ray of the Yellow team… we're gonna have a fresh supply of candies this weekend!"

Kanou ogled him between push-ups and his face showed no sign of excitement. "So…?"

"So?" Gion, unable to understand Kanou's lack of enthusiasm was starting to get annoyed. "Don't you want a sweet little candy, Kanou-san?"

Kanou coldly chuckled.

"Get real, man! Don't you ever get horny? God, are you even human?"

Gion only got a ridiculing snarl and Kanou turned to work on his arms.

"Why am I bothering to deliver you such wonderful news if this is the reaction I get?" Gion gave up with anger. "This good vibe is totally wasting on you!"

"I… am not… gay!" Kanou grunted between pushups.

"So what if you're not? A hole is a hole, you picky bastard and since there's no chance in hell they'll ever bring females here, a candy boy is as good as it gets."

"Spot me." Kanou got up and moved to the bench.

"What's your load?" Gion asked.

"120 kg."

"Sure, dude." Gion rolled the weights on the floor and struggled to hand them to Kanou. "For fuck sake, how can you lift those motherfuckers?"

Kanou did not answer and started his set up instead.

"I can return the question back at you, you know." He said after a while, between lifts.

"Huh?" Gion glared down on him.

"Why don't you get yourself a candy boy, Gion?"

"Are you kidding me?" Gion nearly blushed to his hair roots. "Why should I?" he giggled, "You know what they say- Today's candy is tomorrow's toothache."

"Bullshit."

"Seriously man, sure I'm in for a good fuck but the maintenance is a killer."

"Cut the crap. You are a coward, that's why you don't apply for a candy. You have no balls." Kanou said with quiet determination.

"Hehe…" Gion laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Busted…" he added with a lower voice.

If someone wanted to get himself a candy, he needed to apply and write his name on a list. Since there were more interested inmates than actual candies, the way to win them was though a fight. Everyone interested at the same candy would have a go against each other and the stronger one wins. Sometimes people ended up dead, lusting after candies.

"Elrick Raus signed up of one of the candies."

"Did he?" Kanou got of the bench and grabbed a towel to wipe up the sweat off his face.

"Yup. Make sense, though, since his last candy died."

"You mean got killed, by him."

"Yeah… No one's gonna challenge him, I think, he is a mean ugly motherfucker…"

"Yeah." Kanou had to agree, if anyone posed a threat to him, it was Raus. 2.01 meter's giant, with a muscle power of a wild boar and a face to match. He was the ringleader of the Reds, the strongest team in 950A, no one messed with them and lived to tell the tale.

"Poor little candy, Elrick's gonna rip him to shreds."

"Yeah." Kanou had to agree again, as sad as it may be, in 950A you learn to mind your own business, sympathy for others was nothing but a waste of energy. "I'm hitting the showers before wake-up call."

"Can I join you?" Gion hurried to ask and Kanou glared at him coldly.

Gion always tailed Kanou to the showers, this was his way to insure his safety, when he was in the shower room with Kanou he never feared getting raped or teased or beaten. Kanou was the second strongest guy in 950A, and Gion was lucky to have him as a friend.

They entered the showers and there was one dark skinned inmate already there, facing the wall and jerking off. He greeted the incomers with a nod and kept going like they were never there. Kanou and Gion striped in silence, trying not to stare at the other man, and give him some privacy. They left their clothes on the bench, next to his brown ones.

"Super hot." Gion opened the tap and stepped under it, enjoying the cascade of steamy water on his body.

Kanou opened another tap and started washing his body with strict efficient movements, the alarm was about to set off and he wanted to be out of there before more inmates poured in.

Gion's hums of joy, the other inmates' moaning and the running water resonance in the room.

"Haaa!" The prisoner finally came and his com splashed on the wall and slowly washed away with the running water.

Basking in his afterglow the inmate smiled at Gion, a dreamy smile that made the blonde laugh.

"You seem to be all fired up, what's your inspiration, dude?"

The Brown chucked slightly "I got my hand on the candies' pictures. In my slacks' pocket, take a look."

"Gion…" Kanou scolded the younger man for his stupidity but the Green wouldn't listen, he picked up the brown slacks and a small brochure fell down. Gion hurried to save it from the wet floor and opened it to have a look at the candies. Most of them were cute, but there was no wonder who was the inmate's muse.

"Kanou, you must check this cutie out!"

"I already told you I'm not gay." Kanou murmured and closed the water taps of both showers. "Lets get ready, the morning lineup should start any minute now."

"No, really, you must see the guy; he is a guy, right? A little blonde hottie with big blue eyes…"

"Dream on." The Brown chuckled. "Elrick already sighed up of him."

Gion's smile turned into a bitter one, he already felt sorry for the beautiful boy who was going to fall into the arms of a sadistic psycho. After Elrick is done with him, there will be left nothing of the delicate boy but a pathetic human wreck.

"If Elrick gets him, he is as good as dead." Gion held his eyes on Kanou with a sad and hopeful gaze.

"Cut it out!" Kanou roared at him. "How many times do I have to tell you? I AM NOT GAY!"

"But… but…"

"I swear it, Gion, keep it up and I'll kill you!"

"Poor Ayase-kun…" Gion whispered in silence.

The name made Kanou freeze in his place. "What did you say?"

"What did I say?" Gion returned the question.

"What's the kid's name?"

"Huh? Ayase… Yukiya Ayase. Why?"

Kanou released a deep sigh. "Yukiya Ayase… of all people…"

"You know the boy?" Gion asked in astonishment, Kanou never shared his past with anyone; in fact, the bleached hair man never considered that Kanou may even have a past.

"I knew his father." Kanou admitted with reluctance.

"His father?"

"I'm signing up for him."

"You are going to face off Elrick? But you are not gay, so why take this risk?" million questions bubbled in Gion's mind.

Kanou knew how to stop those questions at bay. "Shut up or I kill you."

Gion shrank under the wrath of those dark intensive eyes and then the wake-up alarm turned suddenly on and washed all over them.


	3. Into the black

"God bless us everyone  
We're broken people living under loaded gun  
And it can't be outfought  
It can't be outdone  
It can't out matched  
It can't be outrun  
No"

**The Catalyst- Linkin Park**

 

** Into the black **

 

The usually deserted hangar was brought into life and sizzled with action. Under the white light of mercury lamps, hanging down from the massive steel beams, the prisoners built up an arena made out of an old, unused docking platform, encircled with worn-out ropes.

It has been almost a year since the last shipment of candies and so the place was crowded with inmates, some horny to the bone and willing to fight, others just using this contest as a source of rare entertainment. The crowd sat on boxes, containers and scrap ships parts to watch the fights.

As Gion and Kanou walked in, there were two inmates from the Orange team, tearing each other apart on the arena. A punch thrown with a deadly accuracy sent one of the fighters to the floor.

Something warm and sticky landed on Gion's cheek as they drew closer to the fighting zone.

"Ugh…. Blood!" Gion wiped his face with disgust. "I hope it's not diseased or something…"

The Orange that fell down struggled for few seconds and managed to get back on his wobbly feet. It drew some disappointment cries from the audience, who wished for this battle to end already so they could watch Raus on stage and see once and for all if someone was crazy enough to challenge him.

"Raus verses Kanou next!" one inmate called "Place your bets! Red or Black? Hurry up now!" That old man probably had a keen sense of business opening up a gambling deck. Of course, in 950A money was pretty much useless, but people were creative as they gambled on the winners; staking cigarettes, alcohol and even toothpastes for spoils.

Kanou looked the commotion near the gambling stand and frowned, partly because the odds were nowhere near in his favor but mostly because he should have been the one to come up with this idea first.

Gion found a mate from the Browns that filled him in on the winners and losers, the tension was high, and only two more candies were up for grabs.

"Raus is not here yet." Gion turned to Kanou after surveying the crowd. There were people from all teams but the Purple one, but this was expected, the purples never took part in a candy hunt for some strange reason.

"Are you sure you are going through this?" Gion asked Kanou after a while, trying hard to mask his concern. Many people stared at them, sharing the same doubts. Inmates were peeking at him when they thought he did not notice, wondering why the hell was he willing to risk his life going against the king of 950A. Even if the wildest stroke of luck grants him victory, it only meant war with the Reds, and nobody started war with the reds.

Kanou frowned at the bleached haired man. "Are you going to bet against me too?"

"Already did…" Gion admitted with an awkward giggle, and Kanou was getting pissed off by the second. Among the swarm of people, Gion located the Blue team's twins. "Check it out, Twiddle dee and Twiddle dum are here; haven't seen them in ages." He rejoiced at his getaway. "Gonna say hey."

Kanou only gave out an angry growl in return and the bastard Green bounced away.

In the meantime, on the arena one of the Oranges fell down for the last time. They had to drag him out of the platform like a mop, leaving a bloody trail behind. An older guy from the Cyan team stepped into the ring to replace him, and new bets were placed.

Gion made his way through the crowd and approached the twins. They were an oddity among the inhabitants of 950A, always together, always observing their surrounding with cold eyes, stoic and detached and this time there was no difference.

"Hey, Misao-san, Homare-san, whichever you are."

"The annoying Green one is here, brother." One of the twins said to the other.

"Cannot be helped." The other twin replied.

"So are you enjoying yourselves?" Gion continued "Were there any great fights up until now? I've missed most of them because I helped Kanou-san get ready. You know him, yeah? From the Black team. He's got the strangest idea of going against Raus, but he's the beast, yeah, much like you guys! I've never seen you fight, though. I bet you can kick some major ass. Come to think of it… How come you guys never go for candies?" Gion babbled forward, grinning "Is it true what they say. Are you fucking each other?"

After a short pause, where the twins stared at Gion with calm, one of them sighed.

"He keeps opening and closing his mouth, but I can't hear a sound."

"Must be the noise from crowd."

The fight between the Orange and the Cyan was a short one and was over soon, the older man from the Cyan team lost. The Orange waited for a new challenger but after three minutes of wait none came, so he left the stage ecstatic, he won his candy, and all his Orange buds came to congratulate him, even the defeated one came staggering along to congratulate his rival.

"Those Oranges are tight." Gion commented in envy, some of his worst enemies were greens.

"Raus…" One of the twins commented.

The man just entered the scene with much drama, accompanied with his Red subordinates that were frightening looking thugs as much as he was. The massive giant was soon surrounded by well wishers and suck ups that paid their respect, giving him hugs and exchanging complicated handshakes.

"Give it to the one and only! Raus is in the house!" One of the Reds shouted and the crowd got into an ecstatic round of applause.

"This new Mohawk hairdo looks good on Elrick, yeah?" Gion asked the twins but they only glared at the Red ringleader with indifference.

Up on the arena, two Grays were cleaning away the blood. The announcer informed the crowed that the next battle was the last one and it was over the most beautiful candy named Yukiya Ayase, as if Elrick would settle for less.

After the arena has been cleaned, Raus stepped in, to the cheers of the excited audience, pouncing about like a proud cock. He was glaring at the crowd, making funny faces and waiting for the three minutes wait to end, if no challenger steps in the ring in those three minutes, the victory was his without breaking a sweat. For a second there, Gion feared that Kanou will fold and from the looks of it, Raus thought the same. The expression on his face when Kanou stepped into the ring was priceless.

"What is this? Some kind of a joke?" He chuckled at Kanou as the Black entered the ring. "Step down now and I'll let it slide."

Kanou gazed at Raus, who was wearing a smug smile on his face, finding himself very generous with this offer. But Kanou was not going to take on it; instead he took his place at one corner of the arena and took off his black jacket.

The smug smile was withering away slowly as Elrick started to lose his patience "Hey, shithead, get the hell outa here, before I paste you! That boy is mine!"

Kanou did not answer; instead he concentrated on bandaging his knuckles.

"Are you deaf or mental or something?" Raus looked at Kanou with amazement, and with some reason to it, Raus was the only one in 950A that could make Kanou look like a slim teenager next to.

"Last chance, bitch, before I shred you into tiny little pieces even your fucking mother wouldn't bother gluing!"

Kanou glanced up at the giant again and this time he smirked. "A little less conversation?" he suggested and Raus turned red with anger and stormed at him like a bloodthirsty bull.

 

**oOOo**

 

"Airlock established, docking procedure has been completed. All inmates, step away from your cell for processing." The announce system commanded with a flat tone.

Ayase's cell door opened with a faint hydraulic hiss, bright neon light from outside flooded his tiny room blinded him for few second.

"Please strip off your clothes and move to the mark." The mechanical voice kept guiding him.

Ayase noticed few detectors on the wall, surveying his every move, but he saw no humans anywhere. Was he all alone in this deep space journey? Locked up in his cell, he was fed three times a day, he was supplied with drinking water and had access to clean toilets, but he never saw or spoke to a soul and he felt very much troubled. What if 950A is also a barren place with no people, will he spend his remaining days in complete isolation? That fate was crueler than death.

"Strip and move to the mark." The announce system repeated itself.

'What if I refuse to cooperate?' a flesh of thought ran through his mind. 'What will happen then?'

"Strip and move to the mark." The electronic voice repeated yet again, with endless indifference.

Ayase then realized that with the same indifference, the machine will kill him if he is too much of a bother. So suppressing his worries and nerves, Ayase did as he was told, taking off his clothes and stepping to the marks on the floor. He has to place each foot on a foot mark, and it made him spread his legs slightly.

"Lift your hands to the height of your shoulders." The computer ordered. Ayase obeyed.

"Commencing bio-metric scan."

Green laser rays suddenly shot at him from all around, dancing on his body and forming an oddly blue-green web on his body, he closed his eyes as they reached his head.

"Yukiya Ayase, Age 18, height 1.6 meter, weight 46 kg, prisoner id 346511. Initial credit- 10 points, process complete."

The green lights died out as suddenly as they appeared. And there he was again, alone in the dark, wondering what was next, but not for long. The doors in front of him opened and he could see, for the first time in weeks, movements in the next room. His heart soared and his breath shortened, there were people in the next room! Actual living, breathing beings! But even before taking the first step towards them, he stumbled; fear clenched his throat; who were those people? Were they dangerous? Were they cold hearted killers, sent to 950A with him? One way to find out.

Ayase took a deep breath and staggered towards the occupied room, trying to forget the fact that he was naked and shivering.

"That does it!"

Ayase searched for the speaker and found a redheaded boy looking at him with discontent.

"Excuse me?"

"Yup, just look at him, no doubt about it; this is a candy delivery for fuck sake. Can this suck a little more? I don't think so."

"What?" Ayase mumbled, confused.

"Here." The redheaded boy threw something at him.

Ayase caught it with an instinct, it felt like fabric in his hands, and it was, it was a white robe, actually. Ayase hurried to put it on with a great relief.

"I'm Jeremy, by the way, and you?" The redhead gazed at Ayase with piercing green eyes.

"I… My name is… Ayase."

"Nice to meet you, Ayase." The boy named Jeremy gave him a freckled hand to shake. Ayase took it with some hesitation.

Ayase looked around, there were few more boys in the room, they looked around his age and one thing they had in common was that they were all very cute and some of them were even pretty.

"This is a candy shipment." Jeremy sighed "And I'm stuck with you candies, such a fucking humiliation…"

Candies…The first time he heard that phrase was in the courthouse and after that few guards used it as well, but still he could not figure it out.

"What is a candy?" he asked the ginger, and the boy ogled him with dismay.

"You don't know what a candy is, you poor fuck?" Jeremy started laughing, a disturbing, and somewhat hysterical laughter. "A candy is something sweet to chew on until it breaks and disappears. Come on, babe, you may be blonde but you cannot be that stupid."

"This is an outer space prison colony…" Ayase whispered "We came here as inmates, I don't understand what sweets has to do with it."

"That is where you are wrong." Jeremy smiled weakly "You are not an inmate, babe, way off actually. Inmates are people that the system can use and see some dough out of, so the system gives a fuck about them. Inmates are some levels above you in the food chain if you are accounted for something around here then maybe you are inmates' toys, single use cheap kinda toys. Some of you will not last here even one night, probably."

"You talk as if… you are not a part of this."

"Am certainly not!" Jeremy's voice got loud with agitation "I have an uncle here and he told me how things get done in this hellhole. You see, they have twelve groups that go by colors. Whenever there's a shipment of candy, they throw a contest and the winners gets their candies. My uncle is a cyan and he'll fight for me, so I got it covered. I got a spot in the cyan group and as for the rest of you; I hope it will be quick and painless."

"I don't understand."

"Come on, get real, babe."

Ayase looked around again, paying more attention so he could see that the boys around him looked terrified and broken, some huddled together, and some just crawled into a corner and did their best to disappear.

"Oh no…" the gravity of the situation began to sink in, and Ayase felt the cold fingers of fear finally clenching around his heart.

"I really feel sorry for you." Jeremy noted "all of you fuckers. If you are lucky, you'll get it over in few days. It will be painful, but it will not take that long."

"Jeremy…?"

"Chances are you'll get gang raped to death." The boy explained. "I'm sorry, babe, really am."

"How can you stay so calm? Is there nothing we can do? Your uncle, maybe?"

"Nope." Jeremy shrugged "He can help me, but there is so much he can do, you know."

The door opened again and two rows of androids rolled in. Low tech androids, which didn't even have faces, only one level above scrap, but some carried weapons with them and they were frightening.

The announcing system came back online with an introductory white noise "We will call your names now and assign you to your groups. You'll get two outfits, one bedtime suit, a pair of shows, one blanket, one pillow with a pillowcase and a towel, additional equipment will cost you credit points. You'll have two minutes to change and then the Androids will lead you to your dormitories. Enjoy your stay at 950A."

Jeremy sneered and Ayase could only feel the pounding of his heart.

"Oliver- Gray, Andy- Red, Amit- Orange, Jeremy- Orange…"

"What?" Jeremy opened his eyes wide "Orange? But I have a spot on the Cyan group. This is a fucking mistake! Check it up again!" He demanded while tears started running down his face.

"Your equipment." The robot shoved the pile of orange colored articles into Jeremy's arms "You have two minutes to get dressed." The android stated.

"No!" Jeremy dropped everything to the floor.

"You hold the line."

"Fuck you!"

The android in charge of Jeremy was not impressed by his protests. It just took him by his arms, kicking and screaming, and dragged him into the dark corridors.

Ayase could not gloat; it was not in his nature and certainly not at someone so terrified. He wondered what went wrong, did Jeremy's uncle lost or got killed, or maybe he just lied to his nephew, it could be anything. But he had no time to think about the other boy's fate, for his name came up next. "Ayase- Black."

An android stepped in front of him and shoved the pile of equipment into his arms; all the outfits in the pile were of black color. This means…

The fingers of fear squeezed his heart again. He began to breathe fast, his vision got dark and his feet felt so heavy. He hugged the pile of articles and buried his face in the pillow as if to hide, a childish gesture; the pillow was soft and had a sweet scent.

"Two minutes." The android assigned to him commanded.

Ayase felt his whole body tremble, he struggled to put on the black uniform, never did he need that much to dress.

"Hey…. Take this." A boy from behind him gently touched his shoulder.

Ayase turned and saw the boy though his blurry eyes, he was a beautiful raven haired boy and he offered him something that looked like a blue pill.

Ayase blinked for few seconds. "What is that?"

The boy appeared to be confused "Don't you know what 'Cold' is? This dose will guaranty you a painless and peaceful death, trust me. I got one for me too."

"Huh?" Ayase had no time for deliberations.

"Sebastian- Yellow."

"That's me." The boy whispered and stuck the blue pill deep inside Ayase's pillowcase.

"Your time is up." The android shoved Ayase into the dark corridors and he nearly stumbled on the floor. He tried to look back and locate Sebastian again, but the doors closed behind him, he had no chance to say thanks to that boy or ask him why he chose to help him of all others.

The android led him into a maze of dim corridors and tunnels, and they were dark, moist and scary. All sorts of tubes and cables ran along the walls, every now and then, blue plasma screens appeared and flickered in the dark, presenting long cryptic rows of numbers that had abstract meaning. Robots strolled the ceiling on upside down tracks. Strange mechanical sounds echoed the halls and as they drew on to the dormitories area, Ayase could hear human voices as well, talks, arguments, even some singing and laughs.

'What is this place?' he started crying softly without a sound. 'Where am I? Why am I here? What is going to happen to me?'

The android stopped at an enormous cage, packed up with humans, starring at Ayase from behind the bars with dark malicious eyes.

"The Black dormitory." The android pronounced "Get in."


	4. The Deal

"You let me violate you

You let me desecrate you  
You let me penetrate you  
You let me complicate you

Help me, I broke apart my insides  
Help me, I've got no soul to sell  
Help me, The only thing that works for me  
Help me get away from myself…"

**Closer- Nine inch nails**

**  
**

** The Deal  **

"No…" Ayase whimpered almost unwillingly as he was shoved into the cage and the gate closed behind him. In a matter of seconds Ayase completely changed his mind about the android; from a scary metal monster it became a gallant protector, who just transformed into an abandoning betrayer, deserting him to the mercy of those savage beasts inside the huge cell. All those shifts of emotions were both confusing and exhausting, but Ayase could not afford either.

The boy swallowed and slowly raised up his head to the men in the cell, who were slowly forming a circle around him, and they glared back at him in a tense stretched silence.

'Breathe in… Breathe out….' He reminded himself, forcing himself to think, a panic attack was not going to lead him anywhere, and showing weakness could only make things worse. 'Maybe… if I'm nice to them, they'll be nice to me too.' He thought 'If I show them I that I like them, maybe they'd take pity on me.' It took all the courage Ayase had within him to face the men in front of him and smile.

"Hello, I'm Yukiya Ayase, nice to meet you. Can you please help me settle in?"

The answer soon came with a quick movement from a direction Ayase did not anticipate; someone just snatched his pillow with a swift movement.

"Jeez, Kiddo, thanks, I've wanted a new pillow for a long time." The inmate who stole the pillow grinned at Ayase and all the boy could do in return was to stare at him, stupefy.

The man sniffed the pillow with open pleasure. "You see, someone peed on my pillow two months ago and no matter how many times I washed it, the stench never came off…"

"Ho…" was all Ayase could say, nodding automatically, and he hated himself for that.

Next thing he knew, a bearded man with lots of tattoos approached him and smiled. "Hey, sweet-pea, I'm Tom." He presented himself as if to a child.

"Ayase…" the boy answered, trembling.

"I'll take the blanket now, honey." Tom announced and reached out his tattooed arm to seize his desirable object with no hesitation or the slightest hint of guilt.

The sting of this insolence and the sense of helplessness grew inside the boy, until it was choking him, forcing him to breathe faster, pushing tears down his face.

Ayase glared at the group of men huddling around him, from the look on their faces, none of them was about to offer him any aid, or sympathy or anything. He came to a horrible realization- he was all alone. So far away from home, locked up in a room full of monsters, this was something Jeremy predicted and apparently was right about.

"I'll take this lovely white towel." Another inmate smirked and he sent his hands to Ayase. This time Ayase was determinate to put some resistance, he feebly held on to his towel, but the inmate was only amused.

"Come on, little candy…let go."

Something about that melodic voice, accompanied by the most charming smile, made Ayase give up his hold.

Soon enough, all of his possessions acquired only half an hour ago were gone. For some stupid reason he missed his pillow the most because he had the strangest, foolish urge to cuddle it.

"Time to see what we've won!" An inmate with scary watery eyes suggested and eagerly pressed against him, pushing him to the bars.

"No!" Ayase whimpered as the man touched his face with his rough, filthy fingers.

"No!" Someone mimicked his high pitched voice.

"Gosh, is it even a boy, they sent us?" one inmate snarled.

"Why? D'you think we lucked out with a female here?" another asked, excited.

"One way to find out, dude…"

"Yeah, let's see if he's even got a pecker!"

"No!" Ayase cried out again in terrified agony as two men seized him and tried to lower down his pants. He squirmed in the men's arms like a fish out of water, no breath, no hope.

"Hey!" Came a deep roaring voice from down the hall and before they knew it, the two men who were trying to strip Ayase had been pushed away from him, each of them wailing in pain.

Ayase looked up and through his teary eyes he saw the tallest and strongest man around, grabbing each of his attackers by their hair and bending them down into an awkward position.

"Hey there, Frank… Joe… Would you please explain to me what the hell were you trying to do?"

The two inmates blinked at him, wearing innocent looks on their faces. "We were just… playing around with… our candy." One said and the man narrowed his eyes at the answer and tightened his grip on the two, actually uprooting some hair and making them scream.

"I'm sorry… did you just say "our candy", you stupid motherfuckers?"

"But…but…"

"We thought…"

"I'll say this once and you should ALL pay a very good attention!" The man growled, making everyone around him shrink in fear, including Ayase. "I did not win this candy for any of you sorry assed punks! I won it for myself, got it? This boy is mine, and I'm not into sharing. Understood?"

"Yeah…K…K…Kanou-san!"

"Haaa!... sir, please… let go!"

The two men quivered in pain, hopelessly trying to get away from the iron grip.

"Sleep on it." The man concluded and bashed their heads together. Both inmates fell down, unconscious, like sacks of potatoes.

Kanou passed his hostile gaze through the rest of the crowd. "Next one touching him, I'll break his fucking arms!"

The inmates broke eye contact and lowered their heads; some started retreating slowly to get away from the danger zone.

"I'm not done with you, jerks!" Kanou yelled at them with his thundering voice. "Get his stuff back! Now!"

Ayase could not believe his eyes as he saw the inmates running around and fetching back his equipment. Piece by piece, they placed everything back in his hands.

"There you go… kiddo…see? Still nice and clean. Ok?" The last inmate placed back the pillow in Ayase's hands and smiled at the blonde. "No harm done."

Ayase glared at him, confused and then he remembered his good manners and smiled back.

The inmate was about to say something else, when Kanou lost his patience and kicked him away with all his might. "Get the fuck off!"

The man landed three meters away, crushing into the bars, squirming with anguish.

"Is there anything still missing?"

It took Ayase few seconds to realize that this astounding man was actually talking to him now.

"No…no, sir…" he peeped, blushing."Thank you so much for…"

"Come on." Kanou interrupted the boy mid way through his display of gratitude.

Ayase clamped his mouth shut, confused.

"Well?"

The boy looked up at the irritated man and saw no other choice but to obey. He struggled to work his wobbly feet and keep up with the man's quick and decisive strides, leading him to the further end of the hall.

As they walked, Ayase tried to figure out the man's intentions, but he wore such an aloof expression on his face that gave none of his thoughts away.

"Here… this is my zone." The man stopped in front of last bed, placed next to the wall. Ayase noted that it was the only bed in the line, something that indicated the man's high status. Maybe this was the leader of the black team?

"Get in." The man opened the curtains to reveal a king sized bed.

Ayase gasped, this man was definitely the alpha male of this group… which brought up the question- why would he be interested in such a puny little guy like himself?

"You can stash your stuff in the nightstand, there's enough room for it. Keep the pillow and blanket out though; you can place them at your side of the bed."

Ayase turned to face him "My side of the… are we going to… sleep together?"

Kanou's hand was about to bring the lighter to a cigarette placed in his mouth and it stopped half way through its journey.

"Aren't you a naïve little thing…" he turned his eyes to the boy and chuckled."Take a good look at me, candy; do I look like I run a charity here?"

Ayase studied the man's appearance with careful attention for the first time. The man looked like he was involved in a horrible fight; he had cuts and dark bruises everywhere. His jaw line was swollen and purple, his left eyebrow was recently stitched, he lost a fingernail on his right hand and Ayase knew he was in a lot of pain, but somehow he managed to conceal it.

Kanou lit up his smoke and tossed the lighter on the nightstand. "I went against the king of 950A to get you. I kicked his ugly ass for everyone to see. The man is in a comma right now, but when he wakes up, there will be nothing he'd want more than to even things up. I walk a thin line here, so… unless you make this work for me, I'm no game."

"I….I don't understand." Ayase mumbled.

Kanou sucked on his cigarette and released a cloud of smoke "The way I see it… you have two options."

"What options?" Ayase asked bitterly.

"Option number one- you take off your clothes, lay on the bed, spread your legs and let me fuck you."

Ayase gasped helplessly "…option number two?" he managed to ask before choking.

"You get back outside and manage things on your own."

"What? This is insane!" Ayase erupted, nearly bursting in to tears. "If I go outside again, they'd kill me!"

Kanou sucked on his cigarette again and glared coldly at the boy. "Yeah, 950A is a bitch." His dry voice held no empathy.

Ayase gasped, ogling Kanou with disappointment and fear, tears started running down his eyes again and he wished this nightmare to end already.

"This is not fare!" he lashed out eventually "None of this is fare! I don't belong here! I hate this place! I hate all of you! You are all monsters!"

Kanou took the time to finish up his smoke and then he crushed the butt at the wet wall.

"I'm offering you an honest deal." He said with calm. "You have no idea how hard it is to keep a private candy… and such a beautiful one too. Many people already turned green on me, I'll have to constantly watch my back, not to mention yours… so… if I'm going through this hassle, it's only after you make it worthwhile."

"What do you want me to do?" Ayase whispered, shivering.

"Taking off your clothes would be a good start."

Ayase blinked at the man through his tears, and Kanou stood there, like a marble statue, showing no emission, cold and rigid like a rock. The boy assumed that this frozen expression would stay on the man's face, whether he starts undressing or turn away and leave.

'Breathe…' Ayase had to remind himself, as more and more tears rolled down his face. Strangely, even though his whole body trembled without control, his hands moved up with determination.

He wasn't sure of what his hands intended to do, until he felt that his fingers clenched around the first button of his shirt, undoing it and work down to the next one.

When his shirt was fully open, he took it down and let it fall on the floor. He followed it down and reached his shoes, the shoelaces gave him a bit of a fight, but at the end he managed to get them off.

Ayase straightened up again, glancing at the man in front of him.

Kanou watched him the whole time with narrow eyes, but he didn't move or talk.

It was so unreal; the silence between them, even the background noise from outside seemed to be lessened. Ayase could hear almost nothing but his own quivering pants, and the pounding of his heart.

The man noticed his hesitation, and a ghost of a smile hovered on his face, taunting him. Ayase knew that the man was not going to lift a finger to help him. This was all or nothing, either he goes through this willingly or he gets thrown out to the cold.

Ayase licked his salty lips and drew a deep breath, and then, with one sharp movement, as if removing a band-aid, he took off his pants along with his boxers.

Staggering, Ayase climbed up the bed and lay on his back; trembling, new tears started flowing with a stinging sensation one's get after crying too much. On the corner of his eyes he could finally see the man move away from his corner. He moved with the grace of a predator, lazy, smooth movements of a hunter who knew that he had already caught his prey.

Ever since Kanou won his candy, he wondered if he could get it up for another male, his body took him completely by surprise with the answer. As he watched the boy undress, not only that he got the hardest erection he had experience, his whole body seemed to catch on fire. Of course, none of it showed, but he was craving the boy desperately, and when Ayase lingered with his pants, Kanou was on the verge of stepping in and tear the damn thing apart.

The boy claimed on the bed, shivering and crying. In some sadistic corner of his mind, Kanou enjoyed the boy's suffering; after all, this could be the karma's ultimate payback. This boy's father was the one to destroy his life, and now he could use the son to get even.

Kanou smirked and followed the blonde into bed; he climbed on it, mounting the boy's delicate body, so small and frail and beautiful.

Kanou couldn't resist the urge of lacing his fingers through the boy's hair; it gleamed like molten gold and it was as soft as silk.

"Please…" the boy plead in tears."Please don't do this…"

Kanou looked into those dazzling blue eyes. Clear blue sky eyes, it has been almost five years since he was deprived of this color, thanks to the boy's father.

"It's too late to change your mind. I'm not holding back." Kanou answered and he couldn't even if he wanted too, his body recalled the pleasures of sex and it demanded its release.

"I'm scared…" Ayase whimpered. "Please…. Let me go…"

Kanou's gaze drew to those beautiful quivering, soft, rosy lips. Would kissing them be like kissing a woman? Should be, after all, the boy had no facial hair whatsoever.

Kanou lowered his head and pressed his lips against the boy's. It was heaven. With an instinct, he pushed his tongue in, not minding the boy's feeble attempts to resist him. The inside of Ayase's mouth was warm and sweet and by god, did he miss this sensation. His hunger only continued to grow.

Kanou growled, as the boy's attempt to resist him increased, he actually used his hands to try and push him away, how annoying. Without ending the kiss or even taking his tongue out, Kanou took the boy's wrists and held them together above his head, this way he could continue devouring the boy without distractions. He only stopped after Ayase ran out of air.

Then Kanou turned his attention to Ayase's nipples. He had such lovely rosy nipples, it almost compensated for the lack of breasts.

Still restraining the boy, Kanou leaned down and took one tempting nipple into his mouth. It was soft and nice to suckle on, Kanou's lips just couldn't get enough. When he finally left it, the abused nipple was swollen and red and wet with saliva. Kanou smirked and turned to give the other nipple the same attention. Ayase's twists and squirms only gave him more excess to the sweet nipple and he sucked it hard and slow.

Kanou's erection pushed against his zipper; growing impatient, rubbing against the boy's thigh was not enough anymore. It was time to step up the game.

Kanou lift up his gaze up "I'm going to release your hands now, Ayase, but if you don't behave, I'll tie you down. Understood?"

Ayase nodded, weeping in silence.

Kanou released the boy's wrists, and noticed that he held them too tightly; purple bruises were starting to form around them like bracelets. He noted to himself to be gentler next time.

"Are you a virgin, Ayase?"

The blonde nodded again, tears streaming down his beautiful face.

"Thought so…" Kanou hummed "That's why I got us some lube."

The boy did not seem to appreciate his efforts.

Kanou reached for a drawer in his nightstand and grabbed a tube. Getting his fingers coated with the lotion took him some precious minutes, and his hard cock protested against it, but it was very important to treat a virgin with care.

"Open your legs." Kanou ordered, his voice came out somewhat coarse.

The boy lingered, he was already beyond tears, and very much exhausted.

"Ayase…don't be shy."

"Ok…" the boy slowly obeyed, spreading his legs, wonderfully shaped, supple legs.

The boy had a perfect round and smooth little ass, no trace of pubic hair on his groin or his buttocks. Kanou's erection pulsed with glee.

'This is just like taking a woman from behind.' Kanou concluded with contempt as he reached between those legs to find the little pink entrance. It was soft and warm to touch, but it shut at his touch like a clam and put much resistance.

Kanou could breach it easily, but it only meant tearing the boy apart. "If you don't relax it's going to hurt." he said, with the tiniest bit of concern.

Ayase hitched his breath and sobbed when Kanou shoved a finger in, and then two. Was he in pain? Kanou tried to be very careful, but it was very difficult to make slow movements, to widen the tiny ring of muscles, to prepare this virginal anus to penetration.

"I told you to relax." Kanou repeated, he tried his best to stall, but his lust grew and took over. This alabaster, enchanting body drove him wild. He managed to forget completely that he was about to fuck a male. He took out his fingers and placed himself in position instead. His hand released his aching member from its cage.

The boy's eyes followed that movement "No!" Ayase cried again, eyes wide open with terror.

Kanou was beyond listing, he pushed himself in. All he could think about was the wonderful tight heat that suddenly engulfed him, flooding him with pleasure he almost forgot about. When was the last time he was buried inside such wonderfully hot and humid flesh? His body must have craved it for so long and now… a dream comes true.

His urges took over, he started thrusting in and out, the whole world could burst into flames and incinerate to ashes, he would not notice. All he could focus about was this divine sensation, of thrusting in and out of that tight hole. The more resistance he encountered from that virginal anus, the better the friction was, sending him to pure bliss.

After pounding into the boy relentlessly, losing track of time Kanou began to feel he was about to come, the familiar heat settled in his lower abdomen. He pushed in and out, oblivious to everything but his growing needs, and after few more thrusts he came. He came hard and strong to release a stream of semen into the boy. The flow was abounded and it took a long while.

Yet, as Kanou waited it out, he realized with dismay that his hunger was rising still. His member slowly got hard again, while inside the boy, the urge to start thrusting again took over. Kanou had no choice but to obey his needs so he started moving again, wondering how many times he'll need until he comes back to his senses.

After the veil of desire was finally lifted, Kanou glanced down at the boy with worry. "Ayase?" he whispered softly, but the boy has already passed out.


	5. Maintenance duty

"Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.  
Where have you been?  
It's alright we know where you've been..."

**Welcome to the machine- Pink Floyd**

 

**Maintenance duty**

 

Heart tearing, hope shuttering, soul hunting sobs seeped into Kanou's dream. Those were the cries of a desperate child that has already lost faith in the world.

Kanou opened his eyes and realized that those cries were not part of his dream, but originated in reality.

Ayase was crawled into a ball next to the wall, his head leaned over his knees and he tried his best to keep his voice down, but in vain.

'Shit…' Kanou frowned, what time was it? Two or three hours before wake up call, and he badly needed his sleep. He remembered Gion's words about the maintenance of a candy, a killer indeed.

"Hey, candy-boy, if you lean that way against the wall you'll get pneumonia, and you can forget about me spending the credit to get you meds!"

"So…Sorry…" Ayase answered, still weeping, he pushed away from the wall.

Kanou growled and burrowed under his blankets. "Keep it down; I'm trying to sleep here." He turned his back to the boy and closed his eyes again.

Ayase covered his mouth with his hand, and he did, he tried his best to keep his sobs at bay, but his useless efforts only made it worse.

He couldn't help it, and when he nearly screamed into his hand; he realized he had to change his tactics. He decided to bite on the palm of his hand, channeling all his helplessness and fears and self-loathing into this act, converting his anger and angst into an actual physical pain.

It worked; he stopped crying, stopped bothering the man beside him and allowed him to sleep. Blood tricked down his mouth, he could taste its bitter metallic flavor trickling down his throat.

For some odd reason, the silence bothered Kanou more than the cries so he let out a deep, angry roar and straightened up with a swift movement.

Ayase flinched, the man looked like he was going to smack him, wasn't he quiet enough?

"Cut it out!" Kanou shouted, taking Ayase's hand out of his mouth.

The blood dripped on the sheets and Ayase observed it with horror.

"I'm so… sorry…" he started weeping again, shivering all over.

"Enough!" Kanou yelled at him again. "What is wrong with you? Why are you sitting here crying in the middle of the night, huh?"

Ayase shrunk on his seat. "I'm… I'm sorry…"

"Stop those fucking apologies and tell me what the hell is the problem!"

Ayase gulped, he was not keen on sharing his embarrassing situation.

"Spill it!"

Ayase blinked at the raging man, contemplating and deciding he had nothing more to lose. "I…I" he stuttered, blushing. "I need to… go to the bathroom… really…bad."

Kanou gasped at him astounded. "Is that all? This whole drama is over going to the fucking bathroom?"

"I… I don't know where it is and I… I don't want to go there… by myself."

"Yeah." Kanou admitted that the boy had a point; Ayase's wondering around alone in the after-hours was definitely a bad idea.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Kanou said while opening a cabin in the nightstand "Here…"

He placed an article in Ayase's hand, a black hooded sweatshirt. "Get this and your shoes on."

Ayase nodded and put the huge shirt on, it was clean but still it held Kanou's scent in it. It hung down from him, like a dress, going all the way down to his knees.

Kanou himself got out of bed and put on his shoes. "Ready?"

Ayase blushed and nodded again.

"Let's go."

They crossed the large dark dormitory of sleeping inmates and reached the gate. Kanou looked up searching for the strolling robots. "Hey there, rust-face let me out!"

The passing robotic guard stopped on its trail and then approached the gate. After it preformed the identification protocol, it let the gate open.

"Aren't there any human guards in this place?" Ayase wondered as they stepped out to the hall.

"Nope." Kanou answered "950A is a 100% automated facility."

"And… if I want to go out at night… will the robot let me out?"

"No, it only let you out because you were with me. You have to reach a certain statues here to get mobility privileges. By yourself, you can only get out of the dormitories after wake-up call. Bathroom is this way…"

Ayase let Kanou lead the way, and followed silently, his belly ached and his lower back registered pain too and it slowed him down. He could feel something wet pouring out of his body, making his thighs sticky and he had to bite on his tongue not to cry out again, once recalling what it was and what actually happened only few hours ago. 'Stupid blonde' he scolded himself 'you should be grateful you're still alive.'

The hallways were strangely quiet, only random vents blowing off, or an android passing by, disturbed the stillness, but as they approached the bathroom, a sound of commotion emerged from within.

"Wait here, I'll check it out." Kanou said and Ayase nodded.

Kanou had a bad feeling about it as he reached to the bathroom and he regretted opening that door the second he did. The sight spread out in front of his eyes was horrific and sickening.

Turns out that some grays were having a party; along with a few browns and a random green. They were all involved in a mass orgy, some with each other, but most of them were raping the gray candy.

And the poor boy was in a sorry state, almost unrecognizable as a human being. His face was a pulp of bloody mess, his jaw was broken open, and he lost most of his teeth and one of his eyes.

His repulsive appearance however, did not stop the men, as they took turns at fucking him in his puddle of blood. They were all high on drugs and alcohol and they were going to wake up tomorrow with a hangover and a dead body.

"Wanna join us?" one gray winked at him.

At that moment, Kanou missed his old plasma gun the most. There was nothing he wanted more but to ash them all down.

He slammed the door close and looked at Ayase. "This place's taken. There's another bathroom on the other side of this hall."

"Ok." The boy said, forcing down his pain.

"Damn it." Kanou cursed softly under his breath, the blonde walked so slowly and they really needed some distance between them and the party people. Kanou grabbed Ayase and scooped him up in his arms. "Let's get it done, already."

Fortunately, the bathroom on the other end of the hall was deserted, and Ayase could use it safely. Kanou waited for him near the sinks as boy came out to wash his hands.

"Wash your hole too." Kanou commanded.

"What?"

"With water and soap, every time you take a dump. Always keep it clean, ok?"

"Ok." Ayase said, blushing. "Please don't look…"

Kanou snarled but averted his gaze.

Ayase put some soap on his hand and reached for his behind. Luckily, the huge sweatshirt that Kanou gave him kept the cleaning act hidden anyway. Ayase washed his abused entrance and with this opportunity he cleaned his inner thighs as well.

"Done." He announced softy as he finished.

Kanou's gaze fell on him again. "One more thing..."

Ayase winced away wondering what perverted demands Kanou will claim next. "Yes?"

"Never hurt yourself again. If you have a problem, or a request or something you need done, always come to me. Don't suppress it by injuring yourself. Got it?"

A small smile found its way to Ayase's lips as he nodded.

"Hurry up now, I want to go back to sleep."

 

**oOOo**

 

Two hours later, Ayase experienced his first wake-up call in 950A, and it was dreadful. The sound of the screeching alarm woke him up in frenzy.

"It's alright, don't panic…calm down." Kanou said, holding the shivering boy in his arms, petting his hair. "This is just to make sure everyone is ready for line-up."

"A line-up?"

"Get dressed."

Ayase wore his black outfit and followed Kanou out of the curtains. Everywhere, inmates were at different stages of waking up. Some stretched and yawned loudly, others cursed the damn alarm and tried to hide under their blankets, some formed groups and chatted in good spirit, others were already picking up fights.

Two men approached Kanou and Ayase. One tall and dark with a gorgeous mane of dreadlocks, carrying a tablet and the other was shorter and somewhat chubby with a small mustache. They all moved as if this was their morning routine.

"Zack, Hassan… good morning." Kanou greeted them respectfully.

"Morning, sir." The chubby inmate replied.

"What do you got for me, Zack?" Kanou asked and the taller inmate handed him his electronic sheet.

"Those are the updated stats, sir." Zack explained "We are at day sixteen to maintenance and we completed 48% of the tasks."

"We are 5% behind schedule." Hassan, the man with the mustache added. "It could cost us 500 group credit points."

"We cannot lose 500 credited points over maintenance duty." Kanou stated "We need all the credit we can get before we go downstairs."

"Yes sir, we know."

"Who's slacking?"

"Well…" Zack grinned. "Everyone…"

"I got this." Kanou said, after examining the data.

"Who's the boy?" Hassan wondered, referring to Ayase.

"My candy." Kanou answered, petting the boy's hair for the second time that morning. "Ayase, say hey to my lieutenants."

"Nice to meet you." Ayase whispered, blushing.

"Cute kid." Zack chuckled.

"Zack, I want you to arrange the men and block the gates when they open."

"On it." Zack nodded and took his leave.

The alarm finally died out and replaced by the announcing system. "All inmates please report to line up. All inmates please report to line up."

"Let's go." Hassan said. "It is very important not to miss the line up." He explained to Ayase.

"Why?" Ayase asked.

Hassan smiled at the boy "If you miss the line-up five times in a row, the system considers you as dead, and takes you off the utility database. Then you can get really dead."

Without understanding much, Ayase followed Kanou and his second in command to the bars at the end of the cage, all the inmates lined up there, waiting quietly in order.

"Morning line-up is now commencing." The announcing system declared.

Zack came back to take his place next to Kanou at the line up. "It's done."

"Good." Kanou nodded.

Ayase noticed the gathering of three robotic guards on the tracks up the ceiling; it looked like they were up to something.

"What are they doing?" He asked Kanou.

"They came to scan us, to see if everyone is still alive." Hassan hummed.

"Why? Aren't everyone still alive?"

"Most of the days, most of the people are mostly alive." Zack smiled at the blonde and winked.

At once, all of the robots activated their laser rays, passing from one inmate to the other, scanning them up. Ayase had to close his eyes as the irritating rays threatened to blind him.

"Scan completed- Black team's population at 100% capacity." The robot declared in its surprisingly feminine voice. "Morning line-up is completed."

Its declaration was followed by the clacking sounds of the gate opening.

"Not so fast!" Kanou raised up his voice above the commotion.

Zack and the rest of Kanou's troops lined up at the gate, preventing anyone from going out.

"What's up with that?" an inmate complained.

"Yeah, man, it's breakfast time!" said another.

"Let us through!" one tried to push his way out, but he bounced into Zack's firm body and was pushed away.

"Hold it right there, you scummy cunts!" Kanou roared at the blacks. "I have a list of tasks here, saying that we lag behind at 5%. The following names I'm going to call out will not get their breakfast due to a major delay in task completion: Tom, Charlie, Fred, Tyler, Jamal, Ronnie, Alex and Pavel. Instead of breakfast, you are going to use the extra time to finish your tasks. If I see anyone of you in the mess room, I am going to break his teeth. If you don't finish your tasks until noon, there is no lunch either and as for dinner… you know where I'm heading."

"This is not fair!" one of the men listed protested. "The Greens and the Browns lag at 11%"

"The Grays lag too."

"I don't give a shit about the Greens or the Grays!" Kanou scolded them, greatly annoyed. "Let me remind you that in three weeks time, we are going downstairs. Downstairs, as you all know, is a motherfucker; and we'd need all the credit we can get! It's been a while since I put someone in a comma so you are all welcomed to try me! "

This was it, from the looks on their faces; it appeared that the punished inmates accepted their faith.

"Hassan, I want you and your men at the mess room until it closes, if any of those lazy fucks enter it, let me know."

"Certainly." Hassan nodded his head.

"Let's go." Kanou turned to Ayase.

Ayase held on to Kanou, like a frightened little child, as the huge mass of Blacks made its way to the dining hall. Inmates of all teams and colors mingled further down the stream, and they all flowed into the mess room.

There were rows and rows of steel tables and benches, and Kanou noted that all the strategic seats near the exits and the walls have already been taken.

"Let's get in line." Kanou said, pushing Ayase gently in front of him.

The dinning hall resembled any other industrialized huge mess hall. There was a line to get trays plates and cutlery, another line to get to the counters that served the food and a line to the dishwasher. The difference between 950A's dining hall to others was that androids served the food and they did it behind screens that could close down and lock up.

Ayase was surprisingly hungry; he took that as a good sign, feeling safe enough to develop a healthy appetite. Kanou behind him and Zack at the front, he did not even register the lusty leers he got from other inmates, but Kanou did.

"If you want to keep your tongue suck it back in!" He growled at a blue.

Ayase approached the first counter at his turn, curious about the menu.

"Name." The android asked in a metallic voice.

"Ayase Yukiya."

"Status check… completed."

Ayase gazed at what he was served; it was a 250 ml carton of preserved milk and nothing more. His eyes wondered around the room and he saw inmates walking around with huge amount of food on their trays. Why was he treated so differently?

Kanou was next in line, and the androids served him with abundance. A huge mound of scrambled eggs, big fat sausages, a nice variety of vegetables, cheese, coffee and even two cupcakes.

"Why did I only get milk?" He asked Zack, not hiding his envy and disappointment.

"Welcome to the system, kiddo." Zack answered. "Here you get fed according to your status, and you gain status by earning credit points."

"How do I earn credit points?"

"By completing tasks. You're a newbie, so you haven't got a chance to complete tasks yet."

"This is so cruel!" Ayase pouted "I could starve to death before I get enough credit!"

"950A is a bitch…" Zack answered in what was revealing to be the mantra of this place.

Kanou led the three of them to a table, all the while Ayase's belly was rumbling and he ogled the other inmates' plats, smelling the wonderful smell of freshly cooked food that he had no access to and he was nearly drooling.

"Hey, Nii-san!" came a voice from behind "Can I join you?"

Ayase turned to look at the speaker, it was a man clad in green, with yellow bleached hair and a black shiner on his left eye.

"Sure." Kanou said.

So Zack sat to Kanou's left, and the green to his right, leaving Ayase standing with his practically empty sad tray, confused.

"Sit in my lap, Ayase." Kanou turned looking at him.

For a second there, Ayase thought that he man was joking, but Kanou's face looked ever so serious. The boy blushed. "I…I really don't think that…"

"It is safer that way." The man explained.

Ayase was not given a chance to think it over; Kanou just grabbed him and placed him in his lap.

Kanou's body was solid and firm and it radiated a surprisingly tremendous amount of heat. Reluctantly, the boy admitted that he felt comfortable, bundled up in Kanou's arms.

"Try not to move so much." Kanou groaned with a tormented low voice.

"Sorry."

"Dig in."

"Huh?"

"I said- dig in, I'll share my food with you."

"Really? Would you do that?" Ayase was nearly moved into tears, he wanted to say thanks but got ignored, Kanou's attention was already elsewhere. With hesitant movements, he picked up his fork and nibbled into the tasty food.

"What's with the decoration?" Kanou asked Gion.

"Nothing, really." The green smirked at the black.

"Whatever…"

"Ok, ok… some of my teammates got into their pretty little heads that I owed them 500 credit points."

"And why is that?"

"Because I may have said something about …say… smuggling some dope for them."

"Did you lie to your fellow inmates, Gion? That is beyond stupidity."

"Did not!" Gion erupted "I actually made all the proper arrangements! I have a guy who has a guy at the loading bay at 445S."

"So what went wrong?"

"Of all the motherfucking automated shipments to this godforsaken hellhole, my lousy ship was selected for a random inspection."

"Harsh."

"You think? It gets even better because I used every credit point I had to make the deal and now I got zip to pay them back."

"Pay them back with your ass." Kanou kindly suggested.

"My ass's too old."

"And ugly."

"Geez, Kanou, you're such a sweetheart."

"K…Kanou-san…" Ayase's voice was just above a whisper. "Can you please help him out?"

"No, it's fine, cutie." Gion smiled at Ayase "I'll just have to… come up with something brilliant soon, or I'm thirteened."

"Good luck." Kanou said.

"Kanou-san…" Ayase was not ready to give up, but he was ignored again as newcomers arrived to the table, seating opposite to them.

At first Ayase thought that his vision has gone bad to produce a double image, but no, the two young men of the Blue team were indeed twins.

Kanou glared at them, chuckling. "Well, well, the Kuba brothers are here. Is it already the time of the month? Ne, Homare?"

"I'm Misao." The Kuba Kanou referred to, kindly corrected him.

"I don't give a fuck. Fuck off."

"Why? Can't a man enjoy his meal in his randomly selected seat?" The real Homare asked.

"Random my ass, get the fuck away from me!"

"We will not back down until you agree to join us." Misao said it plain and simple.

"You guys can't take just a simple 'no' for an answer. Should I tattoo it on your ass?"

"We know who you are." Homare continued, quite bravely, giving the fact that Kanou was pissed as hell and ready to beat the shit out of them. "We know who you are and we are willing to use it."

"So you're down to blackmailing now… how lame." Gion grinned at the twins and got also ignored.

Misao smeared jello on his bun, Homare sipped on his tea, both not taking their gray eyes off Kanou.

"What do you think you got on me, brats?" Kanou chuckled.

"We know that you're military, sir, even better, we know that you are silver." Said one of the twins.

"No one else can go against Raus and win the way you did, Kanou-san. Your low profile days are over." Said the other.

"Only silvers can move like that, Kanou-san."

Kanou's smug smile disappeared into a frown "So you got some brains up there….great…" he muttered."Now get the hell out of here if you want to keep it inside."

"Kanou-san, please…let's not resort to violence…" Homare placed his teacup down. "Why can't you see that? We can help each other! We must work together! Please, sir, you are probably the only pilot in 950A. We need you."

"And you need us."Misao continued "With the upcoming war against the Reds and their Orange and Yellow allies. You could use some reinforcement."

"As the leaders of the Blue team we are willing to…"

"Brats…" Kanou sighed, interrupting their plotting "Childish brats! Why should I bother with pathetic amateurs such as you? If you have a death wish, go and find some other creative ways to kill yourself and leave me the hell out of it!"

"But… but Kanou-san, don't you want to get away?"

"I'll be nice just this once to give you a free advice, ok? Mark my words- the only way out of 950A is in a body bag! Got that? The sooner you get this ridicules idea out of your heads the better. Now get the fuck off my face!"

"Brother?" one Kuba turned to the other and he nodded. They got up slowly, picking up their trays.

Homare turned to look one last time at Kanou with disappointment, but Misao was in rage, he searched for Ayase's eyes and when their gaze locked he smirked at the boy.

"He knows…" Misao said, just two simple words.

'What?' Ayase wondered. 'Who knows… and what exactly?'

"Fucking brats." Kanou growled "Are we done here, Ayase? Did you eat your fill?"

"Yes, sir."

"Let's go."


	6. You are here

"…'relax,' said the night man,  
We are programmed to receive.  
You can check out any time you like,  
But you can never leave!"

**Hotel California- Eagles**

**  
**

**You are here**

 

Ayase followed Kanou again, like a puppy following his master. He had no choice but to swallow his pride and do so, it was a matter of survival.

"Where are we going?" He whispered at Zack that joined them.

"To the maintenance warehouse to get geared up." Zack said, indulging his curiosity.

Ayase was grateful that the man did not get annoyed at his constant nagging. He wondered when, if ever, comes a time when he runs out of questions. He looked up at Kanou and he wore his usual severe expression. That was understandable; the man had a lot on his mind, a lot of responsibilities, including taking care of him. Ayase was extremely confused, not sure of what to think, what to feel, how to react.

Yes, this man saved him from a gang rape and shared his food with him, but it was not out of the kindness of his heart, it came with a price tag attached. How much longer until Kanou finds it too troublesome to keep it up? When will he get bored and pass Ayase on, like an unwanted toy? What will happen to him then?

Ayase had so many questions buzzing in his mind, and so much fear fluttering in his heart it could drive him crazy if he doesn't learn to control it.

'A day at a time'. He concluded, seems like the only way to live in this horrific place, take each day as it comes, without planning ahead or contemplating on the past, a day at a time… will this corridor ever end?

"Dead man's walking…"

Ayase lost in thoughts, did not see the group of men dressed in Orange as they came across them at the hall until this taunting remark.

The largest one in the group dared to bump into Kanou, sending him to crush against the wall.

"Motherfuckers…" Kanou growled.

"Drop it." Zack whispered before Kanou could react, putting a hand in front of the man to prevent him from charging.

Kanou took one good look at Ayase and understood; picking up a fight now could put the boy in harm's way. The group of the oranges moved on, mocking his temporary incompetent.

"This is going to get really ugly really soon." Zack whispered mainly to himself. Kanou might have heard but said nothing, and they walked the rest of the way in silence.

At the warehouse, they met few more blacks getting ready for their chores, standing in front their lockers, checking out their outfits and gear. One of them was an old man, his skin so dark; it was almost as black as his overall, only his silver hair stood up in contrast.

"Marcus." Kanou warmly greeted that man. "Just the man I was looking for."

"Morning to you too, youngster."

"Marcus, I already told you not to call me that way…" Kanou muttered, his face getting red with embarrassment , luckily no one paid attention to their conversation.

Marcus laughed softly "I am sixty two year old, sir, and I can call you whatever I want. Now, what can I do for you?"

"I want you to team up with Zack and Ayase today."

"What? Man…" Zack jumped on the spot "I thought I was teaming up with you!"

"I know, but I need someone to look after Ayase, and I trust the two of you the most."

"Jeez man, I was counting on this credit!" Zack sighed with disappointment.

"Why can't I just…stay with… you?" Ayase looked up to Kanou and asked, blushing.

Kanou only growled.

Zack chuckled "Can you spacewalk, sweetie?"

Ayase bowed his head down, blushing still.

"So this is your candy?" Marcus turned to look at Ayase, scrutinizing him thoroughly. "I see that you went against my advice after all. I don't like it, sir… not one bit. The last thing you need is this kind of distraction. I never believed that you of all people would succumb to… "

"Are you done preaching, old man?" Kanou interrupted Marcus with anger. "I'll see you all at dinner."

With this Kanou left them not even looking at Ayase as he took his leave.

"Damn… what's your mission anyway?" Zack asked Marcus.

"Fixing electric circuits at section 5." The old man answered offering a massive toolbox to Zack.

"Sucha bore…" Zack complained, but snapped out of it quickly. "I got this." He accepted the toolbox and carried it with ease, then he turned to Ayase. "Come on, let's go."

 

**oOOo**

 

Marcus led the way, his silvery hair shone like a guiding light at the dim corridors. Ayase wondered if this is what 950A was all about, miles and miles of cold, dark and curving corridors.

Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide, no way to get back home. It gave him a claustrophobic feeling, he felt that at any giving moment he could find himself facing one of those walls screaming and scratching the surface until his fingers are bleeding and broken. 'Let me out of this place! Get me out of here!'

He felt dizzy, he could hardly breathe or stand on his feet, and when Marcus and Zack finally stopped and unloaded their gear, they did not pay attention to his distress.

Why should they? He was just a bother, just an unwanted weight on their shoulders. Ayase collapsed o the floor, one phrase stuck on his mind in repeat. 'Let me out of here! Let me out of here!'

A slap on his face woke him up. "Get your fucking act together!"

Zack was hovering above him, screamed at him; at this close proximity Ayase noted that the dark skinned man actually had green eyes.

He also realized that he was on the cold floor, curled up against the wall bashing his head into it, his hair was wet to touch, blood.

"I'm sorry, I just…"

"Freaked out? Come on; man…take some deep breaths … calm down." Zack sighed. "Don't let 950A fuck with your mind, ok? I've seen it, it ain't pretty. Can I get back to my work now?"

Ayase tried to slow down his breathing, and the dizziness slowly subsided. "Go..."

Zack gave Ayase one last look and turned to join Marcus.

The old man sulked "So this is how it's going to be? Kanou's gonna hump him and dump him on us every day?"

"Cut it out." Zack answered, slightly aggravated.

"With this candy-boy we are just like sitting ducks here."

"You take care of the circuits; I'll take care of the rest, old man."

Marcus turned to look at the inactivated plasma screen. "Time to make myself useful."

"Need help?" Zack asked but Marcus was more interested at opening the toolbox and pulling out the drill.

Ayase only observed the two men in silence.

"Did you know that more than 17% of the deaths in 950A are suicide related?" Marcus said, out of the blue, glancing at Ayase while using the drill to release a plate and expose the electricity system under it.

"Such a great chatting topic, Marcus, thank you." Zack glared at the older man.

"Light up this area for me would you?" Marcus threw a flashlight at Zack and the younger man caught it and flicked it on.

"The life expectancy of an average inmate at 950A is 15 years, Candies however, last a year at best." Marcus continued, examining the circles and the electronic components. "This area is toasted; I'll have to make a bypass." He concluded. "Zack, please hand me over the pliers."

"Yeah." Zack complied.

"Can I help out with anything?" Ayase asked, still curled up in his corner.

"We don't require your help, candy-boy." Marcus answered, smirking. "Save your strength for later this evening."

This remark drew out a moan of pain from Ayase's unwilling lips.

"Why are you so fucking harsh on the kid?" Zack asked the old man.

"And why are you so soft? Are you sweet on him? It's not healthy for you."

"I'm just saying that if Kanou decides to…"

"What? Satisfy his dick by picking up this useless toy and…"

"I am not useless." Ayase objected in tears. "I can help!"

Marcus turned to look at him with his dark eyes. "Was I talking to you candy-boy?"

"I'm not useless." Ayase mumbled to himself and without even noticing he started crying all over again. He has been here less than 24 hr, and he spent most of them crying, such a waste of space.

"Fuck you, Marcus!" … Zack rushed back to the blonde and knelt next to him. "Hey, hey, kiddo, look at me… I know you're not useless, just give yourself some time, ok? Look at me… I'm a big guy, yeah? But even I wet my bed the first few nights in here."

"Did you?" Ayase gasped ogling Zack with his big blue eyes.

"Don't pass it around." Zack said, slightly coughing. "Life is harsh around here, even for big boys."

"It was even worse before Kanou took over the blacks." Marcus added in his dry voice. "Five years ago, the blacks were run by a bunch of idiotic goons that almost killed me when I refused to lick the leader's boots. They had little appreciation to the fact that I am the only doctor in the Black team, and a surgeon to be exact." "

"Kanou killed most of those fuckers." Zack assured the frightened boy "The rest of them joined in with the Reds."

"Kanou is the best leader this group had in years." Marcus finished with the pliers and turned to the welder. "28% reduction in mortality rate, especially downstairs, since he took over."

"What is downstairs?" Ayase asked with embarrassment. Everyone mentioned it, but he couldn't figure this out just yet.

Marcus laughed and returned to his welding.

Zack smiled at Ayase. "I think it is time for 950A lesson number 1." He picked up a bolt from the toolbox and showed it to the blonde.

Ayase looked at the piece of metal with little understanding.

"The best way to describe 950A is to think about it as a round cap bolt, about 3 kilometers in diameter." Zack explained. "There are three main sections in 950A, same as on this bolt. The first zone is the round cap, or as we call it- Upstairs. It's the dome on the surface of the asteroid. There you have real sunshine, and that is the place where they grow food and create our oxygen with both natural and artificial photosynthesis."

"The dome creates 100% of our oxygen demand and 65% of our food." Marcus added.

"Are you with me?"

Ayase nodded. "I think I saw the dome when we landed."

"Yeah, Kanou is working out there today, fixing some equipment on the outside."

"That's dangerous…"

"Yeah, the man always takes the most risky tasks on himself. That's why he got like… gazillion credit points. Anyway, to the midsection." Zack ran his fingers down the bolt. "You are here. The dorms, the gym, the kitchen, the mechanical section, heat, power and water facilities…everything is here, under the surface of the asteroid, where the sun never shines."

"And downstairs?" Ayase gazed at the end of the bolt, where it becomes narrow and pointy.

Zack had a bitter smile on his face. "Downstairs…" he sighed. "If 950A is a bitch then… downstairs is a hell-hound."

"83% of deaths accrue Downstairs." Marcus agreed.

"Why?" Ayase asked.

"Why?" Zack chuckled. "You'll find out soon enough. We go down in three weeks. All groups take turns there. You see… 950A is a very strange and irregular asteroid. Made out mostly of metal, but very porous like a sponge. The Union sends prisoners here and uses them to mine rare metals. It's a very profitable business for them, cheap labor, minimum investment in safety measurements, loads and loads of metal ores of all rare kinds- Silver, Erbium, Neodymium.."

"Don't forget the Cold." Marcus added.

"Cold is a different story, mate."

"Cold is the reason we are here." Marcus insisted "The rest is peanuts."

"Fine, that's not the point though. What I'm trying to say is that downstairs is very dangerous. There's no atmosphere there, no air pressure, and there're many chasms, vacuum traps, landslides, and many accidents can happen, of all kinds."

"The bright side is that there are no guards down there." Marcus said. "No droids there, yeah, downstairs we are all alone." "I'm done here." Marcus announced and switched the power on.

The dark corridor woke up to life - the plasma screens lightened up and shone with bright blue, running numbers again, the side walls lights turned on and the tracks on the ceiling were charged again.

"To the next spot?" Marcus suggested.

"Sure." Zack helped the older man to place back the board and pack up the tools.

"Wait, where does this bolt go?" Ayase asked.

Marcus shrugged and Zack chuckled. "Keep it, kiddo, it's yours."

 

**oOOo**

 

"Damn bloody hell!" Kanou cursed under his helmet. He just misjudged the situation and used too much force to take out a broken piece of equipment off its place and now he harmed the dome's surface. A miniature crack appeared at the perfect smooth face of the glass, but even this smallest imperfection could make it snap in the harsh terms of outer space. The difference in temperatures between day and night alone could expand it to a critical point. "Fucking mess!"

"Are you alright?" A fellow black teammate floated towards his position and encored himself near his leader.

"Yeah, I'm just messing everything up today, Hall. Could you please hand me over the glass crack resin?"

"Coming right up."

Kanou waited for the man to fetch the risen, while watching the spectacular view that surrounded him. Three of the gas planet moons were in a perfect line of vision, the dusty yellow one, the icy white one that reflected its planet's strips in a beautiful way and the blue distant one, glowing bright like a perfect marble.

At any other day, this view would bring some peace to his tormented mind, but not today. How could he enjoy anything while everything he touches crumble under his fingers? He made such a mess of everything, and he had no idea how to fix it.

"Sir, the resin."

"Thanks, Hall."

The man hovered back to his station, and Kanou looked at the small slit, taking comfort in the fact that at least he knew how to handle this small disaster.

The shift seemed to last forever, and it took all of Kanou's power of will to focus on his chores rather than on a certain blonde candy and the way everything went wrong.

The Khaki teams were also on maintenance duty and when they came to replace the blacks at last, Kanou went straight into the showers, not talking to anyone. He was happy to feel solid ground under his feet, and breathe without the aid of tubes, but he was still brooding. He stripped out of his space suit as fast as possible and let himself drench in the hot water.

As the water washed away his sweat and relaxed his muscles, his spirit was rejuvenated as well. 'I can make this work' He thought. 'I can show Ayase that I'm not a monster.' It was true; he hasn't been a monster for a long while now.

Motivated, he walked to his locker, making all kinds of plans how to make Ayase like him, or at least be less so goddamn scared of him. After drying himself up, he reached for his closes when a purple silk ribbon fell from his locker to the floor.

Kanou froze on the spot, but no one seemed to notice, so he picked it up and stuffed it in his slacks and continued dressing.

"Hassan!"

His second in command was caught in the middle of shaving. He turned to Kanou, face all covered with white shaving cream. "Yes, sir?"

"I got to run an errant; I might not be joining you for dinner. Make sure that only the ones who earned their meal get it."

"Most certainly."

"See you at the dorms."

Kanou knew Hassan was stopping himself from asking any questions, and he did not bother to explain further. He left the showers and went into the hall, his strides urgent and hasty. He took few false turns, in case someone was tagging along, and then he reached a corner where he stopped and carefully listened for a while. He could only hear the ordinary sounds of the automated patrol robots, no one followed him. He turned to the wall and searched for the small file he knew hid there, in a natural crack. Only few people in 950A were informed about those tiny tools hidden at strategic points along the corridors, none of his group shared his knowledge.

This particular file was place there to unscrew a small metal plate. Underneath was a button, which Kanou pushed before placing the plate back and safely hide the file in its place.

All that time, a sound of rattle intensified until a hidden door in the wall opened to reveal an elevator cell. This was one of the many hidden pass-ways in 950A, such an old complicated patchwork facility that even the robotic gourds' navigation systems did not include every route in it. Once Kanou entered the elevator, he was out of the system.

The elevator went down, in complete eerie darkness and silence; it took nerves of steel to stay calm inside. The elevator took him into the heart of the mid-section, where most of the functions already broke down or operated aimlessly in neglected oblivion.

Only one essential facility was buried deep there, the heart of 950A, the old nuclear power station that provided most of 950A energy demand, and even though it was fully functional, it ran on an independent service that precede the security system and therefore was completely hidden.

They chose this place as a safe meeting ground long ago; they relied on the heavy electromagnetic and radiation interference to disturb any attempt to eavesdropping on them.

Kanou sent his hand into his pocket and took out the little silky ribbon. He waited, in what appeared to be pitch-black for ordinary men, but he wasn't. He was silver, a warrior designed to fight in every possible condition; it was programmed to every fiber of his genes. His infra-red vision has already been activated, and the heat coming out of the nuclear core gave him more than enough illumination.

After a few minutes, a figure approached him; he could hear the footsteps before he located her, moving through a cloud of steam.

Gold.

Somehow he always got extremely nervous in the presence of gold. The fact that they were both inmates in this shitty space wreck didn't matter. In his entire life of servitude, he only met a handful of gold, the elite of the Union, the pure-born, and the genetically designed to rule. They didn't mingle, not even with silvers. He was more than astounded to find one of them in 950A, but their background was similar and they didn't need too many words to reach a mutual understanding.

"Thank you, Kanou-san." She passed him by, reaching for the purple ribbon that matched perfectly to the color of her uniform. "I've been looking for this everywhere…" She snatched it from his hand and used it to tie her long, dark hair.

"Someya-san, I believe we agreed to keep our meetings to a minimum."

The gold smiled softly. "Yes we did. We both don't need to draw this kind of attention. Yet…recent past events made it unavoidable, I had to see you and have some answers."

Kanou looked up to meet her eyes; they shone like bright green neon as her Infra-red vision was activated. She kept the direct eye contact longer than anyone else would dare. Kanou was the one to turn away his gaze.

"Go ahead; what do you want to know?"

"Do you have Yukiya Ayase at your possession?"

"I do, he is my candy."

"Are you sure that this is the right Yukiya Ayase? Maybe it is a boy that happens share his name?"

"It is Ayase, I saw him once with his father when he was about ten years old, he hasn't changed much since, he doesn't seem to remember me."

A slap came on his face, hard and strong, long fingernails scratch his face and even drew blood.

"How dare you? How dare you treat this boy as a candy? You filthy lustful man! How could you?"

He stopped her hand from hitting him again and slightly twisted her wrist and smirked as she hissed in pain.

"We are no longer silver and gold; you don't get to hit me without consequences." He whispered and twisted her hand further until she yelped in pain.

"Let go, you monster!"

He did, and she cradled her hurt arm on her chest, tears in her eyes.

"If I didn't treat his as a candy that would only raise suspicions, don't you agree? Besides… I enjoy it."

Someya chuckled, disbelieving her eras "I never knew you were gay."

"I'm not gay! It's Ayase! He is special."

"He is also the son of the rebels' leader. His father…"

"His father destroyed my life and Ayase will pay for it. He'll be my candy as long as we're both in this hellhole!"

"Ayase's father saved your life, and this is how you repay him? Shame on you, Kanou-san, I thought you were a better man."

"I am not a good man. Fuck this shit! Is this is what we're here for? To pass judgment on me? Because I've already told you, you have no authority on me, gold, get used to it! I don't answer to any of you! Not anymore! This is getting boring, I'll leave now…"

"No!" Someya's voice echoed in the empty halls as she screamed. "I'm not done with you! Come back here!"

Kanou smiled to himself, still screaming orders, old habits die hard. And yet he turned on his feet to face her again, the leader of the purple team, the closest thing to a female in 950A, the gold, something about her made him obey. He waited for her to catch her breath.

"As long as Ayase is here, the resistance is in great jeopardy, you understand that, don't you?"

"I do."

"Ayase is the leader's son, they'll try to make him yield to get his beloved child back."

"I know."

"The leader kept his identity as a secret, even from his son. No one must know this, not even Ayase himself, or this could lead to a disaster."

"I know… but…."

"The Blue twins, they've been snooping around, do you think they know anything?"

"They know I'm silver, for sure, I think they are pretty much on to Ayase as well."

Someya-san bit on her lip in worry. "This is bad, this is really bad. The twins are here because of illegal trade of information. They are extremely clever and they know how to hack any system known to men. They must be stopped before they reach me."

"Why?"

"Come on, Kanou-san, you know well enough that I have friends on the outside, gold that helps the resistance. If I'm found out, it is only a matter of time before they reach them too. This is so bad…"

"What would you suggest to do?"

"Kill them, kill them both."

"Someya-san, they are kids, good kids."

"It is too risky."

"I think I can make them work for us. Keep them under control."

"Are you sure you can do it?"

"They have this strange idea they can break away from here."

"If it doesn't work than we'll do it you way."

It just drew a snarl out of the gold "No one can escapes 950A"

"I know, but if I play along with their delusions, I could keep a close eye on them."

Someya lingered for a while, considering the options. "You may try it your way." She concluded.

Kanou bowed, smirking "At your service, my lady."

"We have to find a way to… solve the Ayase situation. I'm sure that the Union is already using this card against the leader. He must be out of his mind with worries and very vulnerable to blackmail. The resistance mustn't fall, not for this."

"I'm sure that Ayase's father is strong enough not to make hasty mistakes."

"I need time to think things over. And we even not yet began talking about the tension with the Reds."

"We can't be out of the system of too long."

"I'll meet you after you finish your round downstairs, we'll continue then." Someya said and turned to leave, not bothering with goodbyes.

"Gold and their manners…" Kanou muttered and turned to leave as well.


	7. Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My inspiration for 950A asteroid comes from a real space object named- Hyperion, a moon of Saturn, if you want to, you can google image it and see for yourself. It is disturbingly beautiful.
> 
> My inspiration to the "Gold and Silver" regime comes from the classical Greek philosopher Plato and his noted book "The republic" where he talked about the quality of humans and referred them to the qualities of metals. If I remember correctly, the Gold were meant to rule, the Silver were meant to be soldiers and the Bronze were plain civilians. I took it a bit further and added more metals, as will show (I hope) in upcoming chapters.

"Come on, come on  
Put your hands into the fire  
Explain, explain  
As I turn and meet the power  
This time, This time  
Turning white and senses dire  
Pull up, pull up  
From one extreme to another…"

**Thirteen senses- Into the fire**

 

**Thirteen**

 

 

"Where is Kanou-san?" Ayase asked Zack as they headed to the showers.

The dark skinned man smiled and ran a hand through his dreadlocks. "I don't know, kid, Hassan said he took off with no reason. He does that sometimes. Miss him already?"

Ayase lowered his gaze biting on his lip.

"Just teasing, kiddo, lighten up!"

Marcus stepped out of the showers with three other men who looked like they were rushed out of it, one of them sent an angry glare at Zack who returned that gesture with a smile.

"The coast is clear, Ayase, I've checked it twice, you can go in." Marcus said. "We'll be just outside to keep watch."

"Thanks."

Marcus nodded and held the door open for Ayase, and as he took a hesitated step in, a group of men appeared from one corridor, all dressed in white and heavily guarded by armed androids.

Zack froze on his spot and Marcus's black skin got so pale as if he'd seen ghosts.

"God bless." Zack moved his hand to form the sign of the cross.

"Who are they?" Ayase's eyes followed the slow march of the men clad in white, he thought he had already got the color of every team figured out, but he didn't know that there was a white group too.

"Those poor fuckers are on their way to be executed." Marcus said after the parade disappeared from sight. "They are going to join the thirteen team, the team of the dead."

"The white team sucks." Zack agreed.

"Why?" Ayase asked, trembling "Why are they going to be executed? What did they do?"

"Three things will get you executed here." Zack said. "The big three 'F's."

Marcus picked up where Zack ended. "If you get cough stealing food, or sabotaging a facility or if you get your hands on firearms, you get executed."

"There is nothing we can do for them, Ayase, they are as good as dead, better forget their faces already. Get into the showers, would you?"

 

**oOOo**

 

Gion was on the lookout, the past few days were more than exhausting; they've been a total nightmare. He tailed Kanou around like a puppy, from the gym to the kitchen, from the wakeup-call to the lights-out, but there's a limit to this strategy, and after he finished his chores, Kanou was nowhere to be found.

Not that the man owed him anything, but Gion was really pissed at him for falling off the map. Panic threatened to overtake him, he had to think fast, he had to avoid his teammates at any cost, even by ditching the dormitory, switching groups but where will he go? Who will take him in with his reputation?

He decided to think things over in the shower, nothing like a hot steaming cascade of water to warm up the brain. Most of his teammates were heading for dinner anyway, just another plus to his brilliant plan.

'You'll think of something' he assured himself, under the gentle caress of the water. 'You are smart, and young, and way too good looking to die by the hands of those incompetent baboons'. There was a way out, and he only needed time and inspiration to find it.

"There you are!" a voice resonated through the empty showers room.

Gion looked up, shampoo running down his eyes, but still he could recognized the Greens that entered the room, the ones he owed a huge amount of credit, leader included.

"Hey you guys." He greeted them grinning like he had found his long lost pals. "I was just thinking of you."

There were five of them, two held clubs, one held an iron pole, the last two needed nothing but their fists.

"What a coincidence…" The Green leader snarled "We were just thinking about you too."

"About the credit you owe us." Another inmate added, in case the concept eluded him.

"Yes, I know…" Gion said, smiling still, but fear crept into him, without the warmth of the water; he would have been a shivering mess right now. "And you should know that I work day and night to patch up a new deal that will not only repay my debt but also earn you a great fatty interest. I just need a day or two to close all the loose ends…"

The leader snarled again, swaying the club in his hand. "I've heard that before. Don't you agree guys? We've all heard this tune before."

"Yes we did, and it is getting old." Said the one with the iron pole.

Gion measured the situation and found it grim and disturbing, his mind raced, running every scenario possible, though the vast majority of them ended up with him being dead.

"Guys, violence is a huge mistake. Just think about it, if you hurt me now, you won't see your credit ever again."

"Well, there's a fat chance we will never reach that happy day." The Green leader sighed. "At least this way, we get to have some fun."

And this was the signal, for everyone to charge.

 

**oOOo**

 

Kanou was not going to show up for dinner either; Ayase noted to himself as he proudly ate his first rightfully earned meal- a toast and a small salad on the side.

Zack sneaked a boiled egg into his plate and Marcus contributed two chunks of cheese.

Ayase thanked them, blushing, but Marcus only frowned at him and Zack chuckled a "Don't mention it."

As always after dinner, all blacks gathered in their dormitory for few hours of leisure before lights out. Some played cards; others smoked or drank, few read from old tattered newspapers.

Ayase walked into the beds filled hall and to his surprise, he recognized some of the faces already, he even managed to pick up some of the names, but he dared not catch their gaze, there was no way to deny it, without Kanou-san's protection, they'd be more than happy to rape him to death.

He stayed close to Zack and Marcus, as they walked in, afraid to stumble into one of the men that attacked him last night, was it just last night? It felt like eons ago.

"I'm off to bed." Marcus said, grunting "Those old bones can't keep going for much longer."

"Night, then." Zack said, smiling "Sweet dreams."

"Yeah…" the old man sighed with such longing, making Ayase wonder who did Marcus longed for.

"Good night." Ayase smiled at Marcus but the man was already gone.

Some of Zack's mates came to greet him, offering him a bottle of beer and inviting him to a game of cards.

Ayase could feel the man's dilemma, Zack wanted to join his friends, but he also wanted to look after Ayase. Poor guy, he has been on the babysitter role the whole day long, he deserved the break.

"I think I'll call it a day and go to Kanou's bed to sleep." Ayase said. "Good night."

Zack looked relieved and smiled "You know the way?"

"Sure, the last bed next to the wall, I cannot go wrong."

"Night, Kiddo."

As Ayaes climbed on the mattress, he wondered if he could get any sleep in this bed, after all only last night… Last night… Ayase shivered, so cold. He wrapped himself in Kanou's blanket, which was thicker and larger than his own.

For a while, he could only listen to the voices outside the improvised veil of sheets that gave him a fake sense of privacy, he could hear the shouts, the laughter, the cries and the moans, like a mad house. Would it be like this for the rest of his life?

A black cloud came hovering down on him, and he suddenly realized why some chose not to bother getting up in time for the line-up, he felt a prick of envy at the white team.

 

**oOOo**

 

The conversation with Someya left Kanou with a sense of unease as he didn't realize the contradiction living inside of him, until the gold slapped him for the way he treated Ayase.

Yet, he carried that contradiction for a while now, ever since he met the leader of the rebels, the man who saved his life and opened his eyes to the unpleasant truth, Ayase's father.

He spent three weeks with that man, recovering from an almost lethal injury, and the man only talked and shared classified information with him. He didn't execute him, or imprisoned him, or punished him in any way, and when Kanou was healthy enough, he did the most unthinkable thing of letting him go. He took a dying Silver, a dangerous enemy into his ship, nurtured him back to health and then let him go.

For doing so, Kanou despised him, condemning him as degenerate and weak as the Union leaders claimed him to be. But for some reason, the poison of his words slowly infested his blood, to the point that one day; he refused a direct order to fire on am unarmed civilian rebel ship.

That was the reason he ended up in 950A, and the reason why he hated Ayase as much as he desired him.

He finished his rounds, checking on the men he punished this morning, making sure they have completed their chores. Then he met up with Hassan at the kitchen and went though the figures again, discussing the best ways to use the group's credit for gearing up before the downstairs duty.

After that, he made a quick visit to the technical warehouse, spending some of his own private credit and only then, he headed back to the dormitory.

As Kanou stepped into the dormitory, everyone were way into their relax mode, but once he walk in, the atmosphere changed completely, became tense and agitated. People stopped their doing, laid their cards down, ceased their laughter, some even tried to hide their cigarettes and booze.

They were afraid of him; terrified and highly alerted to his every move, not without a good reason… great… he wouldn't have it any other way. Better keep your rabid wild dogs under a short leash.

He walked into the hall, maneuvering between rows of beds and huddles of people, ignoring the curious glances they sent at the box he was carrying with him.

Even Zack raised his head over his hand of cards and sent a questioning glare, but Kanou's face projected a 'Stay out of my away' look, so he turned back to his game.

Kanou reached for his bed and opened the curtains with one swift motion.

Ayase flinched at the sight of him, curling further into a ball, trying to take as less space as possible.

Kanou stared into those bright blue eyes, filled with fear and he found himself wishing there was something he could do about it, this little blonde boy was the only soul in 950A, Kanou wanted to find no fear in.

"I got you some stuff." He placed the box on the mattress, and Ayase just blinked at him, not moving from his spot. "It's all for you, don't you want to take a look?"

No movement and no sound.

"Fine." Kanou grunted and set on the bed, letting the box come between them. Like a magician pooling bunnies out of a hat, he started fishing out the goods from inside.

"An extra fleece blanket." He pulled a soft black fabric out of the box. "One cannot have too many blankets, trust me." He placed the blanked at the boy's feet, but Ayase was not ready to move yet.

Moving on, he drew out the next two articles. "A thermal shirt and thermal pants, very expensive but also very useful, when we go downstairs or when the heating system breaks down, which happens more often that it should."

Ayase nodded his hands tight over his knees.

"Gloves… useful for the same reasons."

Ayase nodded again, licking his lips.

Next thing out of the box was a white plastic pot. "A chamber pot." Kanou explained "So you won't have to wake me up every time you have to take a piss in the middle of the night."

Ayase blushed silently.

"One last thing… Flashlight, the batteries are already inside. It will come in handy at many times, I'm sure… are you crying?"

Ayase nodded without a sound, tears forming in his eyes and falling on his cheeks.

"Why?" Kanou couldn't hide his frustration, he expected the boy to be happy, or at least grateful, but this? How did this happen?

"Thank you very much for everything." Ayase said finally, his voice shivering.

"I thought you'd appreciate that stuff." Kanou pouted like a rejected six year old, it almost made Ayase laugh and weep at the same time. "I thought…"

"I do, I like it… a lot… all of it, very much." Ayase continued, sniffing. "It is just… it is just…"

"Just what?" Kanou barged into his words, angry.

"It just makes everything more real… all those stuff… got me realize I'll be here for a long time."

Kanou's anger washed away as quickly as it appeared. "Yes, I can get that…" he admitted reluctantly. "Nothing much to do about it, though." He said, thinking of the crazy Kuba brothers along the way.

Ayase wiped the tears off his face, scolding himself for being such a child. 'Face reality!' he reminded himself, and with the same breath he started undressing.

Kanou was busy putting the new articles in their suitable place and he didn't notice Ayase was naked until he put the box down on the floor and gazed at him.

"So how was your first… day?" he mumbled at the naked beauty.

 

**oOOo**

 

His first day was the worst nightmare ever, no, scratch that, a nightmare is something you can wake up from.

He was in a living, breathing hell, that he saw no way out of.

At his first night as a proud member of the Orange team, they gave him a welcoming prep talk, saying that his Candy position was just a stepping stone and if he proved himself worthy, he'll become a full member of the team. They told him that he should be proud of becoming an Orange, a team where every member was equal, and all had the same privileges, yippy fucking yay.

And after this pompous speech, the inmates of this noble orange team set up a vote to decide about the order in which he will give head to every member of the group.

So he spent all night long, sucking every filthy, sweating, unclean dick in the dormitory, and some of them even brought friends from the Yellow and Red team, something about social network up keeping.

It didn't help much when he puked few times, and they didn't bother with taking him for dinner, joking about his highly protein nourishment that he already had gracefully extracted from them.

So Jeremy had so little sleep at night, waking in the morning with the taste of a graveyard in his mouth, and was handed the delightful chore of cleaning every loo in the section.

Yes, the Orange team was on hygiene duty, and as a proud member he was expected to pitch in, and who knows, this might be the stepping stone of his getting ahead.

Fortunately, he was giving the master key to every lavatory in the section, one of them was in the infirmary, and when no one saw it, he sneaked into one of the operating rooms, where there was a body on the operating table, all dressed in white.

"Fuck Organ" he said to the dead dude "The white team is the best." He grinned at the lucky bastard. "You don't mine, I hope." He reached for a drawer and slipping a surgical knife into his pocket.

The next motherfucker who shoves his dick down Jeremy's throat will lose his balls, and if that means he joins the white team too, well… fuck it.

 

**oOOo**

 

He should have done it yesterday, but it is a funny thing about human beings, they never stop hoping. The desire for life was strong inside of him last night, what did he exactly hoped for? Some sort of kindness? Some sense of empathy? Sebastian could no longer remember. Yesterday he was so naïve but today he was wiser and older, much older, old enough to know all about 950A.

This place was worse than a death penalty; this placed was filled up with psychopaths, ruthless killers and mad men. Even if you came in a normal person, surviving in this distant, robot controlled hellhole, would slowly strip you from any remain of humanity. And he did not hate the men who raped him and beat him last night, he pitied them.

They were hollow shells, empty eyed, walking dead, and they had nothing to give him, so if he was disappointed at something, he was disappointed at his own stupidity, he should have done this a long time ago, he should have done it last night.

Sebastian forced himself out of bed, bleeding and broken and weak, every step was agony, every step a small victory.

All the Yellows were gone to their duties, and he was all alone, a neglected, broken doll.

Sebastian stopped three times on his way to the bathroom, and every time, to pick up the pace was a battle of will, but each time he won.

He reached for the bathroom and to the row of sinks, for some reason, he dared rising his gaze to the mirror. What he saw shocked him, he could not find his face within this mass of swollen flesh and smeared blood.

Vanity rose up in him, he mourned his lost beauty, and yet he almost smiled at the foolishness of this.

With broken fingers he opened the tap, and took a handful of water, mixed with his blood. The blue little pill was in his other hand, and he shoved it up his throat like some bitter medicine.

He drank the water and took the pill.

'There it is done!' he realized in shock. The Cold was inside him now, no turning back, but his stupid heart started beating so fast with fear, with wild hope that somehow he could escape this.

But it was done, Sebastian knew and waited for the drug to do its job.

It took longer than he hoped for, for a while nothing happened and he almost lost his mind with anxiety, was he wrong? Did they give him the wrong kind of pill?

But when the effect finally came, it came with a full force, weakening him at once, dropping him to the floor and it was so hard and cold, and he shivered, so cold.

He trembled on the bathroom tiles, contracting without control, body turning blue. His last thought was that this was more painful that they had promised it to be.

 

**oOOo**

 

And the androids brought another one to the emergency room, making it an all time record of inmates admitted to the room, four at the same time.

The ten consciousness inmates in the room ogled him, as the robotic doctor hooked him into the tubes.

"Do you know this guy?" one of the Reds asked and a fellow Orange shrugged.

"One of the Greens." A member of the Yellow group contributed to the conversation. "His own people whacked him."

"I bet three beers on the guy being thirteened by morning." Said one of the Reds.

"Three beers and a pack of cigarettes he's white in two more hours."

"You're on."

"Shout the fuck up, you cunts! It just happened now!"

"What happened?"

"What we've been waiting for, morons! He's awake!"

"Really?"

"Fucking about time!"

"Yeah, fucking time already."

Elrick set up in his bed, watching all the commotion around him without being able to make a sound, because of the tube that was still shoved into his throat.

The Reds, Oranges and Yellows all smiled at their long lost leader. "Welcome back, sir."

 

**oOOo**

 

"Isn't it part of our deal?" Ayase asked softly as Kanou stared at him, both astounded and drooling.

"Yes… but I…" Kanou actually struggled not to blush, or stutter for that matter.

Ayase hitched his breath, looking down his naked chest, breathing deeply. "I know where I am now." He whispered "And I am not going to struggle anymore, I'll do my part as long as you do yours."

Kanou felt disoriented, as if gravity decided to switch direction and everything was falling upwards now.

"Just… just please… don't hurt me like yesterday." The blonde shivered a mixture of fear and cold.

"Ayase…" Kanou's voice came out gentle and soft. "Last night… last night I lost control, and I am not proud of it. I am so sorry, it will never happen again."

The boy nodded half heatedly.

"But I do mean it, Ayase… This could be… good for you as well. I can make you enjoy it."

"You don't have to…"

"But I want to."

"As you wish, sir…" Ayase gave up.

And as promised, this time was different, much more tender and slower than before. Kanou was gentle and attentive and he tried his best to look less intimidating, but some things were just plain hopeless.

Ayase did not pass out, or felt any pain, and to his surprise he had an intense orgasm, on the last round.

After that, Kanou fell into sleep, very much content, cuddling Ayase from behind, hands protectively hugging his belly and torso, squeezing both bodies together with no space between them, Ayase could feel Kanou's heartbeat resonance through his own chest.

And he could not sleep, for a while he laid there, wondering if having an orgasm meant that everything was alright between them. Was this normal? Did it mean that this time it was not a rape? Was it possible to feel grateful and resentful at the same time?

'One day at the time.' Ayase decided and breathed deeply, tomorrow was another mystery he didn't care to unfold.

He listened to the sounds of nighttime at 950A, snores and mumbles and weeps, mechanical buzz, robotic hum, he even imagined what downstairs would sound like, wild wind lamenting in the deep tunnels.

Through a small slit in the curtains, Ayase could gaze out of the bars and into the corridors. In his struggle to sleep he counted every random robot passing by, and it worked, he felt sleep slowly reaching out for him, like a hesitating lover, and within the twilight of his consciousness he suddenly saw a small figure in white, floating down the corridor. Someone clad in all white, passed by in perfect stillness.

His heart raced, his body immediately tensed up, he jerked into a seating position, waking Kanou up at the process.

"What is it?" Kanou asked, grumpy but also concerned.

Ayase did not answer immediately, instead he glared out to the corridor, which was now empty again, and he wondered if he really did saw something for that brief second or that his mind was playing tricks on him.

The white figure didn't reappear.

"Ayase?" Kanou mumbled, mostly asleep.

"Nothing… It's nothing… I thought I saw something but…"

Kanou let out a frustrated growl and tagged at the curtains to completely shut them out. "Would you go to sleep already?"

"Yes, sir… I'm sorry."

Ayase returned to Kanou's warm embrace and pretended to fall asleep until he really did.

 


	8. Dead ends

**Silver and cold**

 

"…Let this battle commence, one last time!  
[And I hope for your sake, that you're on our side]  
Let this battle commence, one last time!  
[And I hope for your sake, that you're on our side]

Look what you've done to yourself  
Yeah you've lost the will to do what's right again  
Look what you've done to yourself  
Hunger to discover that you're not here…"

**Enter Shikari- OK, Time for Plan B**

 

 

**Dead ends**

 

Two weeks later...

 

He tried to hold on for as long as he could, but he was unable to, not when his only anchoring point was a piece of jagged metal that cut through his skin and made his fingers all bloody and slippery, not while the wind grew stronger and stronger, as the air bled through the open gush at the floor and disappeared into the vacancy of space, and not when the whole ship trembled violently with every explosion.

The man looked up to Kanou, gazed into his eyes and said oddly with calm. "Let go…"

"No." Kanou glared back at him with mad, wild eyes, and clenched his arm tighter on the man's elbow.

"Do it now brother or we both die …"

"No!"

The other man averted his gaze and then closed his eyes, disappointment and agony writing all over his weary face. Out of nowhere, his free hand came up pulling a dagger, driving it hard into Kanou's arm. The sudden pain loosened Kanou's hold for a mere second, only a brief second, but it was more than enough for the other to set himself free.

"No!" Kanou cried again, looking into his brother's eyes, and they were smiling in victory, while he drifted away into the dark, endless emptiness.

Another explosion smothered his scream, but he screamed just as well.

And he opened his eyes to see a very frightened, beautiful boy of golden hair and blue eyes hovering above him.

"Kanou-san…" The boy whispered, sniffling "Please… please stop screaming."

Kanou said nothing, and just elevated himself to his elbows, leaned for the drawer, searching and snitching his cigarette pack and lighter. He could only relax after the first nicotine dose entered his bloodstream.

Ayase withdrew to his place near the wall, but kept on watching him, finding it odd that no one came rushing in to check upon their leader, they could all pretend as if they did not hear a thing, but Ayase knew that Kanou's shouts resounded thought-out the entire dormitory.

Kanou finished his cigarette with stillness, and only after he had crushed the butt into the ashtray, did he return the boy's gaze.

"It was just a bad dream, nothing to be bothered about. Why not go back to sleep? Plenty of time before line-up."

Ayase tightened the blankets around his naked body and considered his options, he was pretty sure that sleeping was no longer one of them.

"Can you go back to sleep?" He returned the question to the Black's leader.

Kanou's lips curved up with a weary smile. "I'm not sure I am ready to go back there."

Ayase crept closer to the big man, and without thinking, he sent his hand to caress the man's cheek, so much like his granny would do to soothe him after waking up from a bad dream.

Kanou had already grown bristles almost twenty hours past his last shave, but his face was warm and pleasant to touch.

He remained still, as Ayase's gentle fingers traveled all over his face, following his high cheekbones, outlining his strong jaw, taking an upright turn, to his temple and finally threading into his silky black hair.

"I'm guessing you don't want to talk about it." Ayase said after a while.

"You've guessed it right." Kanou reached with his own hand and grabbed Ayase's bringing it down to his lips so he could kiss the delicate fingers.

"Sometimes talking can help."

"Talking won't bring back the dead." Kanou said, a hint of amusement glittered in his eyes, and his tongue darted out to lick Ayase's fingers, warm and slick.

Ayase breathed, taken by surprise. Kanou pulled him by his hand, into a hug, into a searing kiss, full of nibbling and gentle biting. Ayase moaned into the kiss, giving Kanou the perfect opportunity to slip his tongue into that delicious mouth.

The hug got tighter, Ayase's body pressed against the man's broad chest, not an inch between them.

Kanou's hands roamed their way down, closing on Ayase's bare buttocks, fondly squeezing the smooth mounds of flesh.

Ayase pulled away from the kiss, desperately in need of air. Kanou gave him no time to recover, as he sent one hip against the boy's crutch, rubbing it slowly and deliberately into hardness, all the while two of his fingers delved into his cleft, circling his already loose hole and penetrating in.

"This won't bring back the dead either…" Ayase said gasping as Kanou's fingers found his prostate.

"I agree… but it's much more fun …" Kanou whispered to him, hip still massaging his now leaking cock, and fingers hitting his prostate again and again with the matching rhythm.

"K…Kanou-san!" Ayase tried to wiggle his way out of Kanou's embrace. "Kanou-san… Please… We've already done this three times only few hours ago… I don't think I can take…"

"Ayase!" Kanou tightened his grip on the squirming boy, burying his face at the crook of his neck, fingers still stroking him from inside, drawing unwelcomed pleasure from Ayase's already worn out body. "I need this… I need you, Please?"

Ayase sighed, deliberating, feeling how desperately Kanou was clinging to him, like a lost child.

"Ayase?" Kanou asked again.

Ayase pouted and let out a long breath. "All right."

"Thank you." The large man kissed his shoulder and with a swift motion he flipped them over, so he could get on top of his delicious candy.

"What would you do if I'm unable to walk tomorrow?" Ayase asked the man above him, who was more interested in thrusting his fingers in and out of Ayase'e entrance than to think of the outcome "I'll die of embarrassment if Zack has to carry me around all day." He pouted.

Kanou took those pouting pink lips into another kiss, while Ayase wrapped his legs around the man's waist.

Kanou withdrew his fingers, while kissing Ayase and his lips moved up from his mouth to his ear shell, licking it and then diving into it, coaxing moans out of Ayase, who had a tender spot exactly there.

"If we reach that point, I'll carry you around all day." Kanou answer was whispered into his ear after he was done licking it, driving Ayase into a wanton mess.

Ayase through the haze of pleasure could still feel the man lining himself up between his thighs, and he waited for the penetration, both fearing and craving it.

Ayase did not have to wait for long, as Kanou pushed in with one smooth motion, causing both pain and pleasure at the same time.

The boy buried his fingers into Kanou's now wet hair, grazing at his scalp, sensing Kanou's heavy member pulsing inside him, and beginning to move.

Kanou set up a wonderful rhythm, strong, slow and deep. All Ayase could do was to caress his hair and join the ride. Kanou thrust in and out, each time pushing deeper into his body, losing himself in this wonderful tight heat that surrounded his throbbing, leaking member.

Ayase moaned underneath him, his hips meet every thrust with a responding jolt, matching desire with desire, leading them both to climax.

After few steaming minutes, Kanou was close; he lost the steady rhythm into something more erratic and desperate, he sent his hand, struggling for a path between their sweaty tight bodies, to reach for Ayase's member and pump it, so the boy would come first.

Ayase moaned with pleasure, forgetting the world, lost in his heat. Kanou's strong hand was relentless, along with his thick hot cock, moving in and out of him, hitting his prostate with every thrust, Ayase stood no chance; exhausted as he was he came hard and panting, shooting his ribbons of seed into Kanou's anticipating hand.

Ayase shut his eyes and bright blazing light danced behind his closed lids. Arching his back, golden hair wet and sprawled on the pillow was a beautiful sight to behold, and Kanou drank it while thrusting into that tight heat, searching for his own completion.

One more thrust, and another, and Kanou came too, mumbling Ayase's name and filling his body once more with his seed.

Ayase felt the stream of semen, pouring into his body, as Kanou sighed and buried his face in the boy's hair. Ayase realized he no longer minded having the man's seed inside of him, not thinking of it as an intrusion anymore, strange though, what a couple of weeks at 950A would do to you.

A wet kiss was placed on his forehead, and Kanou gently pulled out.

Ayase yawned and stretched, feeling sleepy all over again. As soon as Kanou joins him, warping his strong arms around him, he could fall into a blissful sleep. So he waited, but the cuddle he yearned for did not come. Irritated, he set up again, watching Kanou as he got dressed.

"I'm out for a run, don't wait up for me."

"A run? Now?" Ayase felt somehow insulted, but then Kanou reached for him and took him into a deep, hot kiss again.

Kanou stared into those wide blue questioning eyes and wanted to say something ridiculously sappy such as 'Thank you, Ayase. You are the one beautiful thing in this ugly place that gives me strength to join the line-up every fucking day' But there was no way to bring those words out into the open, so he settled for "I'll be back in an hour or so, go back to sleep"

 

**oOOo**

 

Running was the best outlet in this closed up dark tunneled 950A, whenever Kanou's brain was too troubled or when his control over his rage was slipping, he would always go for a run, and he would circle every corridor of every section, as many times as it was necessary, until his lungs burned, or his legs collapsed or his mind calmed down, whichever came first.

Now he had Ayase too, to vent out his some of his aggression through sex, but being a silver acquired him with a stamina only another silver or a gold could match, and he would not have Ayase suffer for it, the poor thing has already tasted his lack of restrain.

So he ran. He ran three rounds, passing the same hallways, the same tunnels, the same screens blurting out strings of enigmatic numbers. He ran in the dim flickering light of fluorescence, minding the same gaps, avoiding the same protuberances on the walls, while his mind screamed 'I want out! I want out of here!'

Where did it come from, this sudden cabin fever? He had already thought he was well adjusted, accepting this hellhole as his own. Accepting, yes… for himself but not for Ayase. Ayase did not belonged here, done nothing to deserve this, another pawn in the war between the Union and the rebels who were led by the boy's father.

So unfair, so brutally unfair.

Kanou was so occupied with thoughts; he didn't realize he was ambushed until it was already too late.

Twenty men, of the Orange, Red and Yellow teams blocked the two corridors he could have chosen his passage from, so he halted, turned on his feet and saw that corridor he just came from was blocked as well by ten more men, Elrick Raus among them towering over the lot, with his hands crossed on his chest and a smug on his face.

Kanou returned the icy glare with a smirk of his own. "Hey Elrick, glad to see you up and about. Trying to even up the chances this time?" he asked the Red's leader, briefly scanning all the attendants.

"No, just doing whatever it takes to take you down and keep you there."

Kanou nodded in acknowledgment, his eyes scrutinizing his opponents, categorizing them into classes by size and weaponry, searching for the best course of action, but there was no way to deny it, he was outnumbered and he could only take half of them down before his luck runs out.

Raus was thinking the same, his face glowing with satisfaction, basking in the glory of his future victory; he was in no hurry to attack. Instead, he glanced down at Kanou and moved about the crowed, enjoying everyone's attention.

"What?" He turned to Kanou, circling him around like a vulture before descending upon its prey "Did you think I'll take it quietly? Did you think I'd let it slide? The way you humiliated me in fronted of everyone and stole away my candy?"

Kanou never lowered his gaze, or lost his calm demeanor. "I won that Candy, fair and square, in the arena, as the rest of us do." He reminded the Red which made him snap.

"I am NOT the rest of us!" Elrick roared at him "I am the king of 950A! You don't cross me and get to live!"

Kanou observed Elrick's face turning from pale to pink to bright red, a color matching his outfit, but said nothing, and would not even flinch at the screaming, which made Elrick even more furies than he was before.

"I'm going to take you down, motherfuckers! I'm going to take all of you down! When I'm done with you bitches, there will be nothing left of you but dust! And I will spit on your dust while fucking your blonde candy!"

Kanou took a deep breath, was this speech never going to end? He was getting rather bored.

"When I'm done with you, there will be no more a black team in 950A, because this color would be as fucking cursed as the white! No one will ever…"

"Fuck it…" Kanou murmured under his breath and seized a perfect opportunity while Raus wondered around him to fit a well aimed punch into that square jaw of his.

Elrick screamed with pain, losing his balance and falling on the ground, but that was the signal for everyone else to attack.

They came charging at him, all thirty of them, clubs and knifes and all.

Kanou's first instinct was to crouch and roll down the floor, trying to position himself against a wall, rather in the middle of the swarm. He managed that, although receiving two blows to his chest and one to his head.

He rose up once against the wall, facing his attackers, armed with nothing but his fists, still he was the first to draw blood. He took three men down with one maneuver, breaking someone's leg with a kick, another one's jaw with a fist and sending the third into unconsciousness with a head butt.

After that it was all a blur, automatic attack and defense maneuvers, avoiding sharp objects and inflicting damage with every opportunity. But there were too many of them, and he was taking damage himself. A stab wound to his side, a split of a lip, a club to the temple, the last one was severe, doubling his vision, slowing his motions. He saw Elrick approach, a knife in his hand, ready to join the bloodshed, couldn't tell if he came from the left or the right, as both smiling images danced before his eyes.

But as Elrick lift his arm, a pained scream came from the crowed. Two Yellow teammates dropped dead on the floor, after being stabbed from behind.

Kanou blinked again, wiping the blood from his field of vision, he saw two twin figures clad in blue. This was not a double vision anymore, those were the Kuba twins and for some reason they came to his rescue.

Reassured, he straitened himself, facing Elrick and engaging him, while the Kuba brothers drew some attention to themselves.

He could tell they had a very solid fighting style, in fact if he didn't know better he would have taken them as silvers as well.

And just as luck swayed to his side, the whole corridor was lighted with flashing yellow light and a siren began to whine.

"Unauthorized assembly!" a female robotic voice announced "Unauthorized assembly!" she repeated "Disperse at once!"

They all froze on their feet, knowing what would come next. The robotic guards were on their way, armed with live ammunition; the sprinklers on the ceiling already got activated and started releasing suffocating gas that brought tears to everyone eyes.

"Unauthorized assembly, disperse at once!" The robotic announcer demanded again.

Raus watched with frustration as his soldiers started to take off. "This is not over!" He pointed at Kanou, "soon you go downstairs and I promise you, you're never coming up!"

With that, he turned away and ran.

The Kuba brothers reached for Kanou, one held him steady and the other one checked his wounds.

"Can you walk?" one of them asked.

Kanou nodded, catching his breath "I think so, yeah."

"Good, then run!"

The robotic guards arrived at the scene and opened fire. The brothers helped Kanou up and then they ran with bullets at their heels.

They maneuvered away from the attacked zone, dragging Kanou with them.

"Where are we going?" he asked Homare, or was it Misao, he couldn't tell.

"The Blue dormitory."

One of the places he had never been to, should he revere the novelty? But all dorms looked the same, a hall packed up with beds and chairs and tables, smelling like sweat and semen.

At this time of night, most of the inmates were asleep, so they passed between the beds with silence not to wake anyone up. The twins brought him to their private section of the dorm, blocked away from the rest of the hall by a 'do it yourself' wall, composed of all sorts of wooden and metal boards, all patched up together.

He viewed the room, and smiled to himself, since he could now settle a yearlong of speculations and bets, the Kubas did not share a bed, and each one had his own corner of their shared space. The rest of the room looked like an electronic lab, full of computer parts, wires and screens.

One Kuba brother set him on a chair and cleaned his blood from his wounds. "Misao." He answered the unasked question "Looks like all your wounds has already been sealed."

"Yeah, one of the perks of being a silver, we heal very fast."

"We do." Said the other twin, Homare, that is.

"You are silver as well." Kanou noted.

"Yes, we are." Homare answered, picking up what seemed to be a camera and connecting it to the rest of the equipment.

"We are by the gene makeup, but not by training, our parents smuggled us to one of the free worlds when we were just babies." Misao continued, opening up his drawer and fetching something that looked like a deck of cards. "Ready brother?' he asked Homare who was still handling the camera.

"Why did you save me?" Kanou asked, not even trying to figure out what the crazy Kuba were up to.

Miaso smiled, dragging a chair next to Kanou. "We already told you that we'll be on your side when the war begins."

"Why?"

"Because you are the only pilot on 950A."

"How did you know that?" Kanou asked without bothering to deny.

"Play cards with us, will you?" Misao smiled and started dealing for three.

"We're on." Homare said as the camera woke to life and joined them. "Poker?"

"Right on…"

"What are you doing?" Kanou started to feel annoyed, the last thing on his mind was playing a stupid card game in front of a recording machine, only a while after his tight brush with death.

Misao finished dealing and announced his bet.

Homare took his hand, contemplating a reply.

"Why are you not picking up your hand?" Misao eyed Kanou with amusement.

"Are you fucking out of your mind?" Kanou nearly roared at him.

"Play the fucking poker." Homare said. "We only need three minutes of this crap and then we'll answer all your questions. Could you do that for us?"

"Fuck you." Kanou growled and picked up his hand. "At least you have some smokes in this shithole?"

"Sure." Misao sent a hand to his pocket and handed Kanou a cigarette and a matchbox.

Kanou lit it up and since he had nothing better to do while smoking it, he decided that he might as well play some Poker.

So they played about three rounds, all in which he lost, until Homare looked at his watch and stopped them." I think this should be enough…" he said and rose on his feet to fiddle with his camera again.

"But I just got a really good hand now!" Kanou protested.

"And… this is online…. Now… " Homare announced.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"We've just tapped into the system and planted our little poker game in the automatic scanning procedure. Whenever they scan this room, they'd get us playing poker, it will take them hours to notice something fishy about it, just enough time to get you to where you should go and come back up again.

"Just stop this crap right now!" Kanou threw his cards on the table "What makes you think I'll go anywhere with you? Fuck off, you crazy shitheads; I'm going back to my bed!"

"Shame." Misao sighed.

"Crying shame." His brother added.

"An awful crying shame." agreed the other.

"To miss an opportunity like that..."

"To see the ship we had found."

"A really nice piece of spacecraft we thought you'd like to wash your eyes with, but…"

"If you're not interested, I apologize for wasting your time."

"No harm done, we've only just…"

"Saved your life."

"Motherfuckers! Don't you dare mess with me!" Kanou rose on his feet, raging.

"Not messing with you… much."

"A ship? A fucking ship in 950A?" Kanou yelled out his astonishment. "You gotta be fucking kidding!"

"Hush now please… this is not common knowledge." Homare grimaced.

"A fucking spacecraft here? In this hellhole?" Kanou ignored him.

"Well, 950A used to be a Union intelligence base before they've turned it into a prison."

"And they have done a poor job clearing it out."

"But a fucking ship? Who misses a fucking ship?"

"Kanou-san, we can stay here and argue or we could go and see this fucking ship."

Kanou let a small frustrated hiss leave his mouth and then he mumbled "Fine, lead the way."

The crazy Kuba brothers moved without a sound, they shoved away a heavy box on the floor from its position, and underneath it was a hidden door revealing a small and narrow staircase leading down as far as the eye can tell.

"950A is like a hive." Homare smiled at Kanou "full of secret path, the Blue knows this one as well as some others; we are willing to share our knowledge with the Blacks."

"We'll see about that." Kanou mumbled again.

Misao fetched them three flashlights, and after handing Kanou one, he went down the stairs.

Homare was still holding the hatched door open. "After you, Kanou-san." He said.

Great, Kanou thought, a Kuba in front and another at my back, but he trusted them enough to play along, after all, they did save his ass only half an hour ago.

The way down was long and claustrophobic, none of them talked anymore. Kanou found himself thinking with longing about his battleship, a beautiful 'Stargaze' 1012B masterpiece, armed to the teeth, self-sustaining, capable of 10 years duration in deep space without a need go under a sky. It was gone now, as well as its one hundred crew members and his brother.

After few more minutes they've reached the end of the staircase, and entered an open space, which resembled a railway station, there was an actual railroad set in front of them.

Misao found the control bar on the wall, and tempered with it. "Thirty seconds."

"Move away from the rails." Homare recommended to Kanou "Unless you no longer need your head."

"Huh?" Kanou glanced at him, but gave up investigating the railways and moved away just in time for the massive metal train car to roam in and screech its breaks as it slowed down. It was a robotic car, designed to keep airlock and move passengers through vacuumed areas of the asteroid, it might as well reach beyond the 950A area.

"I'm not entering a fucking robot!" Kanou protested as the brothers bordered the cart.

"That's the only way fast enough to reach the ship." Misao said.

"The trains' system is fully in our control for about a year now. We've breached it ten months ago and safely used it for eight. Please… Kanou…. Join us."

"Damn you Kubas!" he murmured and followed them in.

The car locked and sealed itself, Misao took the controls and set the course, and soon the train began to move, gaining an impressive speed.

"How come the guards did not pick up on your takeover?"

"Because we are so clever." Homare smugly smiled.

"Good for you." Kanou frowned, "Any other systems you've tapped into that I should know about?"

Homare and Misao exchanged gazes. "No."

"Nothing you should know about before you agree to help us."

"I've agreed to help you the moment I went though that hatch, you arrogant bastards!"

"In that case… we've tapped into 950A mainframe."

"You what?"

"We did. You see, we cracked the numbers' code all can see on the screens."

"Once, those screens were used by Union soldiers in this base for communication. When they evacuated, they left the system running but they took the interface platform off so all that was left were random numbers."

"Took us about two years but we've managed to analyze the code and build the interface again using reverse engineering."

"All those big fancy words!" Kanou huffed "What can you actually do with it?"

"We could switch off every robot and open any lock in 950A if we wanted to." Homare calmly said.

"We can take over this whole operation." Misao conformed.

"There's a catch, though…" Homare added "If we do that, they'd know we've breached the system and there will be an automatic Union overrun, so we try to stay on low profile until we solidify our escape plan, we'll only have one chance."

"And this is low profile…" Kanou wondered as the car sped through the asteroid unfamiliar tunnels, taking them out of the boundaries of 950A into an entirely unknown territory.

The ride took them about forty minutes, and Kanou remembered his promise to Ayase to be back within an hour. He hoped the boy won't freak out, waiting up for him. He hoped that at least he'll be back before the line-up.

When the train finally stopped, Kanou found himself in a huge hangar, similar to the one they used for the arena fights at 950A, but this one was a different hangar, and it had no air pressure, so they had to suit up before leaving the car.

Kanou let the Kuba brothers lead the way, through all the space junk that was chucked in the hall, wondering if they really found a ship that wasn't a complete wreck in this graveyard.

"Here we are." Misao stopped in front of a huge metal object that there could not be mistaken to be anything but a ship.

Kanou looked up at the huge beautiful thing and forgot to breathe for a moment. It has been such a long time since he saw anything that could fly. Without even noticing, he sent his gloved hand to caress the curves of the smooth shiny metal.

"What do you think?" Homare asked with a proud smile behind his helmet.

"This is… this is just…" Kanou lost his way with words and the brothers laughed.

"Can you fly this thing?"

"I can fly anything." Kanou scolded them. "This is a type 'Comet' 122D, medium sized courser, capable of reaching forty per cent of the speed of light, can carry fifty people for a period of a month."

"Ain't she lovely?" Homare continued. "Can you check her out for us; see if she's in any condition?"

"Sure, but these checks can take weeks…"

"Well, we are in no hurry." Misao smirked.

"One critical check I can do right now though…"

"Airlock?"

"No, a fuel check. They stopped manufacturing those ships about a hounded years ago, they run on nuclear cells. I'd like to see who far it had decayed."

"Can you do this now?" a nervous worry seeped into Homare's voice.

"Yes. Let's open her up." Kanou crawled under the belly of the ship, looking for the control panel.

 

**oOOo**

 

"I am sorry" Kanou was the first to breach the dreadful silence on their way back.

Unlike the ride to the hanger that was packed with expectations and the thrill of wild hope, the ride back was gloomy, and filled with despair.

"Even if there was enough fuel to take us to the nearest jump point… you could only take fifty people with you, not even the whole blue team, how would you choose?"

The Kuba didn't answer, Homare was curled up to a ball, hugging his knees and burying his face between them, Miaso just watched his brother with an underwriting expression on his face.

"And say we managed to squeeze up a jump, this ship is not nearly armed enough to take a modern Union fighter, which would probably be waiting for it at the exit jump point."

"Do shut up." Misao sighed; Homare only shivered and hugged himself tighter.

Kanou lift his gaze to look at the young leaders of the blue team, he no longer mocked them for their childish dream of escaping 950A, and in fact he realized he was willing to do anything to breathe life to this dream once more.

"Maybe there's another abandon ship somewhere on this asteroid." He offered eventually.

"No there's not." Homare sniffled, head still tucked into it hiding place."We've dedicated a year to this search, there's no other goddamn ship on this shitty rock."

"We don't need a fully functioning one, just one with undamaged fuel cells."

"There is none."

"So maybe we can find a way to recharge the cells using 950A's power station."

"Won't work." Misao answered "Different mechanism, it would only toast them. We know it and you know it, so please shut up."

Kanou resented the cold acknowledged defeat in Misao's voice, it got him angry. So this is it? This is giving up? Has the system worn out even the brightest of minds?

"You were right all along." Homare said without lifting his head, his voice tainted with tears. "We were stupid to think there's a way out of here! Our plan was ridicules and full of holes. The only way out of here is in a body bag…"

And there he was, this proud leader of the blue team, crying his heart out.

Kanou got more and more furious looking at them, until he could hold his rage back no more.

"You spoiled litter brats!" Kanou stood up and roared at the twins. "Look at you, behaving like fucking babies! One little bent on the road, one little dead end and you call it quits? Is this the way to fight for your freedom? Is this the way to earn your life back? Pathetic miserable cunts! This is not the silver way! I'll teach you the silver way! Once you fall, you get up! Bleeding and beaten and in pain, you get up! As long as you breathe, you get up! Do you hear me, twats? As long as you still have your legs attached to your body, you get up!"

Homare lifted his teary eyes to look at Kanou, Misao's face revealed his astonishment.

Kanou was pleased that he got their attention, and for the first time in the five years he had been here, he felt like he could finally give words to something he buried deep inside and tried hard to repress.

"I have this crazy idea…" He admitted to them with a low voice, almost embarrassed, almost blushing. "I don't have the slightest clue how to execute it… and it could only work if we get all the teams working together, so what are the odds for that? But it could also get everyone out."

For a second there, the twins only blinked at him, gasping for air. The train car slowed down as it reached back their station, and only when it stopped, Homare smiled at Kanou through his tears.

"So is it time for plane B?" he asked.

"Don't get your hopes up." Kanou warned him. "We cannot leave the system for a long enough time to formulate it, let along shift it into motion."

"We do have time, all the time we need." Misao answered.

"We'll go downstairs with you next week." Homare added.

"I thought it was the Grey's turn."

"The Blue team will switch with them. We'd go downstairs together." Homare wiped his tears from his face and the car's doors opened.


	9. Darkness follows

"…. Cause if it's coming for you

Then it's coming for me

But I will be there

Cuz we need each other in the dark

And if it's panicking you

Then it's panicking me

But I will be there

So we've got each other in the dark…"

**DJ Tiesto- In The Dark**

 

**Darkness follows**

 

"Report."

"Yes, sir. Thirty Penicillin syringes, forty packs of painkilling tablets, one hundred gauze pads, fifty hypodermic needles, twenty bags of saline, two bottles of chloroform…"

"Stop… just… just stop right there…"

"What?" Ayase lifted his eyes from his notepad to meet the ever scolding gaze of Marcus's black ones. "Is there's something wrong?"

"How many tablets?"

"Huh?"

"How many tablets in each pack of painkillers? And of what type? How many litters in each bottle of chloroform? And exactly how many of the penicillin shots are still in valid?"

Ayase bit his lips and turned to his notepad again, pretending it holds an answer.

"You don't know; do you, candy-boy?" Marcus continued mercilessly "Worst still, you don't know how important it is to delve into such details. You just wonder around with your golden blond hair, and your huge blue eyes, and your tight little ass without a care in the world, do you? Matters of life and death mean nothing to you!"

"Why do you hate me so much?" Ayase asked as tears started trailing down his milky white skin.

Marcus gaped for a second, slightly taken aback, but he recovered quickly and his features returned to their severe scolding state. "Don't." his dark eyes narrowed "Don't make this about you. This is about us, the black team, and about going fucking downstairs! So count everything again and this time do it right for fuck sake!"

Ayase ran his sleeve up his face. "Yes sir." He nodded.

Marcus hummed and returned to his business which was fortunately elsewhere and just as he disappeared from sight, Zack entered the sleeping hall, now resembling a war-zone more than a dormitory for this past week, and the man was carrying three cylinders of compressed gases of some sorts.

Zack was accompanied by two men of the blue team; they mingled so often with the blacks ever since the leaders decided to go downstairs together. No one knew exactly why Kanou finally accepted the Blues' as allies after refusing their constant offers for so long, but it was welcomes just as well, now that the Reds and their do bidders swore war against the Blacks.

"Just place them here… against the wall… careful now… good work, boys. Now let's get the rest of them…"

"Zack…" Ayase smiled at the handsome deputy, and Zack smiled back and ruffled his soft golden hair.

"I gotta ditch you, buddy, we've got tons and tons of equipment to move out of the storage rooms and only twelve hours to do so… Hey, sweetie, are you crying? Did Marcus give you a hard time again? That old fart… spent too many years here that he forgot how to behave around people."

"No, it is fine…" Ayase sniffed "It is really fine… I only got what I deserved for doing a crappy job anyway."

"Are you sure?" Zack's green eyes bore into his own and Ayase nodded vigorously, adding a brave smile. "Well… we are all edgy, baby; going downstairs… the anticipation is a bitch, probably worst that the fucking trip itself…" And as if to prove his point a burst of screams and shouts erupted in one far end of the dormitory. In few seconds it was escalating into a complete ruckus, kicks and punches thrown in abundance. "Will you excuse me?" Zack sighed and hurried to join the mayhem, Ayase not too far behind.

When they got there, Kanou was already on top of the situation, or to be more precise, on top of the man who had caused it. Ayase recognized him as the man who tried to take away his pillow eons ago.

The man struggled under Kanou's hold, like a wild bear, but with all his strength and might he was still no match to the Silver who knew exactly where to put the exact amount of pressure to restrain him.

"Would you calm the fuck down already?" Kanou asked the man below him, voice on the verge of boredom.

"This is a set up! You know it is a set up! This is because I didn't play nice with your candy!"

"Shut your cunt, Joe, we all drew our sticks and yours came a bit sorter… take it like a man or die like a pussy, but would you stop this useless drama already?"

"I don't want to stay at the tip!" The big man was actually whining. Kanou scanned his surrounding and recognized Zack and Ayase as new arrivals, he struggles to maintain his serious face while his gaze greeted them.

Ayase turned to Zack with yet another question "What is…."

"The tip?" Zack smiled "It is the very edge of the 950A bolt, a small cell, like a capsule, where the control panels of the downstairs systems are placed, not a pleasant shack to spend two months locked in, if you are claustrophobic or if you dislike the smell of unwashed men. "

"Tip or pit… shit or crap, it is all the same." Kanou continued. "Now calm down, Joe, you're just making an ass of yourself in front of other people"

For some reason, the big guy calmed down and started to look like he was accepting his fate. Kanou took it as a sign to lose his deadly grip and Joe got up and dusted himself up.

"What are you looking at?" He growled at Ayase. "Show's over!"

Ayase watched the man walk away, face red with rage or shame or just the aftermath of this rumble, when a soft warm hand caressed his cheek, he looked up to Kanou who was watching him.

Being at the center of this man's attention felt like basking in the sun, the sun that sometime warmed but some other times scorched him, the sun… how he had missed its radiant golden rays.

"How are you?" Kanou asked and Ayase blushed to his ears.

"I'm… I'm ok… trying to be helpful as much as I… can."

"That's good; we cannot have any slackers, can we?"

"No, sir."

"Sir?" someone approached them, a nice young man Ayase knew only by his surname.

"Yes, Hall?"

The young man handed Kanou a piece of purple paper. "This came from Someya."

Kanou hummed as he read the note, it held pleasing news, the gold has accepted Gion into her team, once he comes out of the medic section, one less thing to worry about. Once read, he tore the paper into tiny pieces to scatter on the floor.

Hall looked at Kanou as if he had something else to say, but before he could voice it, someone screamed Kanou's name in panic at another area in the dormitory.

Kanou eyed Ayase, smirking; his hand reaching his pocket and fishing out the cigarette box. "The fun never ends…" he murmured as he lit up his smoke.

"Kanou, sir, come along quickly!" By the Hindu accent it must have been Hassan who called out.

"Coming…" Kanou growled to himself.

Ayase once again followed the long strides and the trail of smoke. This time Zack chose not to join, instead he started a friendly chat with Hall.

At the center of the commotion were four men, two of Hassan's men, holding down a third, forcing him to his knees, and Hassan was facing them, pale, holding a piece of equipment in his hands.

"What's going on?" Kanou asked with a slight tinge of amusement, standing next to Hassan, still smoking his cigarette.

"This is a complete disaster!" Hassan roared "And at the worst timing too, just before going downstairs. I have no idea how we can overcome this hindrance under such a short notice, I…"

"Hassan!" Kanou stop the mumbling man. "What the fuck's going on?"

"Look, just take one look at this…"

Hassan handed the piece of equipment to Kanou; and though Ayase had no idea what they were all looking at, Kanou's brow frowned. He threw the butt away and glared at the man forced to kneel down.

"How many of them?"

"60% of all the filters!" Hassan spat out "This shit of a man sold our carbon filters and replaced them with expired ones."

"It wasn't me, I swear to god!" the man on the floor pleaded, struggling in the arms of his captors.

"It was you indeed, you worthless maggot!" Hassan shouted at him. "I gave you the credit to buy the emergency masks, 250 group credit points I gave you only yesterday, and today you have 200 extra credit points in your personal account. Can you explain that? Can you explain the expired filters?" Hassan lashed at him, choking in his anger.

"Kanou, sir… I beg you…" the accused man pleaded with tears. "I did nothing!"

Kanou ignored him, facing Hassan instead "Show me."

"Bring the tablet." Hassan asked another of his men.

Kanou looked at the numbers on screen and his frown deepened. "Hassan is right, and we do have a real problem here…"

"We will never get new filters in time…" Hassn moaned.

"We will." Kanou calmly corrected him and turned to look at the traitorous teammate. "Do you have any alternative explanation to what happened here?"

The inmate shivered and trembled under his gaze. "It was a… mistake? A funny computer error?"

"Lame." Kanou concluded, extracting a dagger out of his sheath.

Funny thing, Ayase always noted that thing hanging down from Kanou's belt but he never gave it his full attention.

"Please…" the traitor wiggled under the hold of the men detaining him, but he was an old weak man and was no match for them.

"You know the penalty for treason." Kanou approached the kneeling man with the blade. "You left me no choice."

It was so very swift, Ayase remembered after wakening up, Kanou grabbed the man by his hair, and slit his throat with one efficient strike. Blood poured out the man's body accompanied by disgusting gurgling sounds, and he fell face down into his own pool of blood, the rest was darkness.

 

**oOOo**

 

"Here, drink this." A soft voice coaxed him into consciousness. Ayase set up blinking, he was in bed, Kanou's bed, under their blankets, but Kanou was nowhere to be seen, and the young man before him, smiling at him and offering him a drink was…

"Hall?"

"No brain damage, good, now drink."

Ayase nodded with gratitude and reached out for the offered cup, the liquid was transparent but the smell was strong, not water then. The boy downed the liquor with just one gulp, and it burned all the way down his throat, through his chest and to his belly.

"Oh god, what was that?" Ayase asked, coughing.

"Spirit, we usually clean the toilets with it." Hall answered with a charming smile.

"Oh god… why am I here? Why are you here?"

"You're here because you passed out, I'm here to look after you since Zack is really busy and he asked me really nicely."

"Oh god!" Ayase remembered everything all of a sudden. He just saw a man butchered, he just saw Kanou kill someone in cold blood.

Hall saw the horror in Ayase's eyes and his smile turned into a sad one. "Take it easy, it was your first time, but it would probably not be your last."

"Kanou…he… he"

"Killed a man, yes… sometimes he kills, that's what leaders do." Hall sighed softly "So we won't have to…" he added under his breath.

"I don't understand why he had to kill him, was there no other way to… to solve it in a civilized manner?"

Hall sneered, his handsome face distorted with mockery. "Civilized way?… Ayase, dear, we are far far away from civilization here on 950A… and if you have some sense of order, a delusion of structure it is only because of those goddamn robots. Tomorrow, when we are hundreds of kilometers deep in the guts of this rock, you'll learn that we are all alone, in the wild, at the mercy of nature. You will learn what it means to have a strong leader such as Kanou who is the only one between us and the abyss. I was here before Kanou, I know."

Ayase gazed at Hall, breathing deeply. It was a strange thing, prison, you can pass a guy every morning for years without sharing one single word and suddenly one random day, he shows his bleeding heart to you.

Hall needed to talk, and Ayase wanted to listen.

"My mum and dad were both copper, plain old boring citizens, genetic engineers. They had access to the most advanced genes, experimental ones that even the gold did not have. They got tempted, they stole some and they made me… up to this day I have no idea what kinds of qualities I have that others don't, I guess that without the proper training even the most exquisite genes are useless. To make a long story short, my parents were caught and executed. I was fifteen at the time, and I was supposed to share the same fate, but a judge decided to send me here as a candy instead."

"You? Candy?" Ayase gasped, after all this guy was one of Kanou's top men, sharing the most dangerous tasks with the elite of the black team, but looking at Hall with a new, scrutinizing gaze he could understand it. The man had a smooth pale complexion, a mop of silky chestnut hair, and his eyes were a beautiful shade of amber, adorned with thick long eyelashes. He must have been breathtaking when he was a youth.

"I was a candy, yes… of the black team, when it was ruled by a group of goons."

"Marcus spoke of them too. So you were their candy? What was it like? Where they cruel to you? Were you taken by one or…"

Hall shook his head smiling. "No questions! You distract me, little boy, I was heading somewhere… I know I had a point there… Yes, ok… Kanou took over the group and changed it, he freed me and Marcus and so many others… so before you pass judgment upon him, have this in mind- he kills to save life, not out of pleasure as some do."

"The ones that had you… are they all dead?"

"All but one, an old bugger at the Red team."

"And you've stopped being a candy after that?"

"Yes I did… well… sometimes I let Zack have his way with me, but it is freely given with mutual enjoyment."

"Ho…"

"Alright now…" Hall smiled again "Sorry if I came up too strong. I must get going, loads to do." The young man got up and was about to leave when Ayase stopped him, by grabbing his shirt.

"Hall…"

"No, Ayase, don't get up. You must rest, doctor's orders. See you later." He gently released the boy's hold and was heading to the curtains.

"Hall!" Ayase pleaded and while sighing, Hall turned back to face him.

"Yes…?"

"What is your given name?"

Hall blushed all of a sudden, but smiled still. "Bailey."

"Yukiya, my given name is Yukiya."

"Nice to meet you, Yukiya."

"You too, Bailey."

**oOOo**

 

Kanou came back to their bed few hours after lights out. Ayase has already learned to recognize the man by the sound of his steps, his silhouette upon the curtains, his scent of smoke and musk.

Kanou entered without a word; hand reaching the drawer of the nightstand to fetch the bottle of lube, Ayase watched him in silence as he opened the cap to pour the scented oil on the palm of his colossal hand while his other hand reaching his zipper to release the equally colossal cock from his pants.

At his safe hideout in the burrow of blankets, the boy watched the man as he patiently and thoroughly smeared the lube on his erection; it was indeed a sight to behold, and fear. Once Kanou was done, his attention turned to the boy on his bed, stern face softens with a smile and black eyes burn with purpose.

Ayase needed no instructions, he slithered away from the blankets, lowering his pants to his knees, kicking them away and then obediently rolled over on his belly.

His submission earned him a deep hum of content, as Kanou's hungry gaze devoured the sight of his perfect mounds of flesh, pale and flawless; Ayase spread his legs as far as the bed allowed him, smirking victories as Kanou choked on his breath.

The man soon mounted him; his heavy body pressed him into the mattress, his massive thighs spreading him even further, and his strong arms anchoring him down.

The first penetration always came with a pang of pain, to be expected when such a large, thick manhood pressing its way into a small, tight opening, but Ayase knew his body well enough already to trust it to adjust and take in whatever Kanou had to offer.

Kanou was a rough and coarse man, but even he knew to wait and give Ayase the much needed pause for him to relax and accept his intrusion, but once he realized he was well received, he became relentless, thrusting hard and deep, faster and faster all the time.

Ayase concentrated on breathing, trying to stay lax and pliant as Kanou's heavy member rammed into him, again and again, breaching his anus and filling his ass over and over again in waves, and the pleasure was build inside him whether he welcomed it or not.

Kanou's hand reached under his belly, to cup his dripping cock, adding to the pleasure he was already receiving from behind.

With Kanou's strong, hard thrusts and his squishing hand Ayase had no choice but to whimper and come, soiling Kanou's fist and his own thighs.

Kanou fucked him through his climax, and planted a soft kiss on his damp nape, but still searching his own release, he continued his relentless pace, cock in and out of tight hole, until orgasm found him as well, and he spent himself deep inside the wet and hot flesh of the boy's channel.

They lingered for a few moments, spent, panting, connected still, until Kanou howled softly with satisfaction, pulled out and rolled away from the boy, laughing quietly.

Ayase eyed him for a while, fearing the man had lost his sanity, but Kanou returned the gaze this amusement and sent his hand to ruffle the already messy golden hair.

"Thank you." Kanou whispered, smiling, still catching his breath. "I really needed a good fuck at the end of this shitty day."

Ayase sighed, a memory returning to him, of Kanou's knife running through a man's throat smooth as butter, and the blood, so much blood that followed. He turned on his back, gazing at the ceiling, it resembled the ceiling of a cave he once visited with fellow students, only more metal than rock.

"Glad to be of service." Ayase whispered not meaning to be heard, but Kanou heard him still and his smile turned into a frown.

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

"But it is the truth, is it? I know what I'm good for, I know what the men see when they look at me, they don't see the person I am, for everyone here, you included, I'm just a boy-cunt, begging to be fucked."

Kanou turned to his side, to have a better look at his candy, to see the fresh tears in his eyes.

Ayase sniffled and continued "They all wish you out of their way so they could have my ass to themselves, all of them, even Zack, I think… but not Marcus, no, he's too old for fucking so he just find me completely useless,"

"You're not useless… just… misplaced."

Ayase smiled at the tenderness of Kanou's voice. "Maybe back at home… I was going to finish my studies and find a job, but even then, I got hit by men, even straight men, because of my looks."

"Do you prefer women?"

"Women? No! No… I guess I prefer to be left alone. Not a possibility on this hellish rock."

"On this rock, they leave men to die. Some of them are rapists and murderers, some of them are scum yes, but few are good, honorable men that rebelled against the system and were brought here to rot as well." Kanou spoke with sorrow. "Marcus is one of them, his only crime was to challenge the system, refusing to work for the Union anymore, he wanted to come out to the press and reveal what was going on at Lead and Iron types of worlds, but they came for him at night, killing his wife and daughter, sending him to 950A to die along with his secrets."

Ayase gasped "I didn't know that."

"Because you didn't ask. Zack's story is no better, Hall's…"

"I know Hall's."

Kanou viewed him with a smile and reached for the nightstand, this time for his smokes. "And I know each and every fucking sob story of each and every fucking inmate of the black team, yours included. You know why? Because I am their leader, I am the one who's supposed to keep them from falling apart, and glue them back together after they do, so we could all function and survive this shitty place as a team." Kanou lit up a cigarette and sucked the smoke eagerly in. "Now, look at me and tell me what you see." He commanded Ayase with a smirk.

Ayase set up and stared at this man, this warrior, with his heavy built and broad muscles, flesh scared with past injuries but strong and hard as marble.

"I see… I see someone strong, strong enough to keep me safe and give me protection,."

"Can't see a person there either… You only seek what I can provide you with." Kanou smirked still, and why is this so different from what men see in you, my sweet candy?"

"You're wrong, it is different." Ayase hissed, pouting. "It's nothing alike, our situation. You rule this place, while I depend on you to merely survive. People see you as a leader, I'm nothing but a toy… used only of sex."

"Don't underestimate sex, Ayase" Kanou answered with deep contemplative voice. "Sex is vital here, a small drop of tenderness in this sea of hell. What can a man expect here but boredom and hardship and death? To be able to hold someone, even for just one night, to fuck into something other than your own fist… People fight hard for candies here, they even die sometimes."

After Kanou was done talking, of a few moments they lingered in silence, nothing but the low sounds of the sizzling cigarette fire to disturb it.

"I never thought of this… this way." Ayase admitted after a while, Kanou smiled finishing his smoke, but instead of crushing the butt into the wall like he always did, he just let it wither away.

"One day, soon enough, I'll lose my power to protect you. Injury, illness, going fucking out of my mind like Elrick, whatever, and I'll be taken down like a rabid animal, and some other guy will be the leader of the black team. The cunts wouldn't even remember my name… You'll find another to replace me with the blink of an eye, so rest easy Ayase, the power of your boy-cunt is stronger than you think."

Astound, Ayase was left again with no words for a long while, and Kanou, too tired to wait for a replay started to fix the blankets around them.

"Turn off the flashlight please." Kanou asked Ayase who was much closer to it, and a sigh of pleasure left his lips as he rested his head on the pillows.

Ayase did as asked and sent their small space into darkness. The rest of the dormitory was as dark, and so silent. No games tonight, or fights, or sex, all the inmates were saving their strength for tomorrow's plunge.

"Kanou…"

"Go to sleep, already…" the man murmured and turned away from the boy.

"Kanou…" Ayase insisted, pressing his face to the broad back.

"What?"

"What is it like there? Downstairs?"

"You only have to wait until tomorrow to get your answer."

"I know… but…"

"It is cold, and deep, and sharp, and mostly unforgiving, but don't worry, stay by my side and stay alive."

"Kanou…"

"Fuck… what?" he turned to face his irritating candy.

Ayase smiled shyly and claimed his lips with a soft kiss.

"What was that for?" Kanou asked in a whisper after Ayase receded.

"Nothing, go to sleep."


	10. Five hours

**Silver and cold**

"Sick and tired of this world  
There's no more air  
Trippin' over myself  
Goin' nowhere  
Waiting  
Suffocating  
No direction  
And I took a dive"

**Ryan Cabrera- On the way down**

 

**Five hours**

 

"Ayase…" A deep, yet soft voice blended into his dream, calling his name.

"Ayase…"

"Hmm… what?" He mumbled and snuggled further into his pillow.

"Ayase…" Hands grabbing at his arms, hot breath on his ear.

Now the boy was completely awake and he rolled within the embrace of the man to face his black eyes.

"What is it?"

"Listen to me, Ayase, the alarm will be set off any minute now, and after that we'd be going downstairs. I'm going to get really busy really soon and I might not have another chance to… I want you to promise me to do whatever you're told to, stick close to Marcus at all times… don't try anything foolish, stay safe… Promise me you'll stay safe."

Ayase blinked and swallowed, and the horrible screeching alarm set in, both deafening and freezing the blood.

Kanou did not let go. "Promise me." He insisted.

"I… I promise."

Kanou's lips landed on his with a soft swift kiss, then curved up with a smile and he rose up loosening his grip. "Here we go." He whispered, then got out of bed, drawing back the curtness.

"Good morning lazy fucks!" he roared above the cacophonous sound of the alarm "Rise and shine, people, it is downstairs today!"

Men arose from their beds with a frown or a scowl to great each other with grave silence, no morning greetings, no jokes, no friendly teases as they dragged themselves reluctantly to form the straight line near the bars.

"All inmates please report to line up. All inmates please report to line up." The familiar automatic female voice urged them to the scan.

Ayase held himself still as the green rays scanned his features, throwing once in a while a glance at Kanou who tolerated his own scan tight lipped and brooding.

"Scan completed- Black team's population at 99% capacity. Morning line-up is completed."

The scanning robots retreated and doors clicked open.

Ayase woke up from his trance as Kanou turned to his teammates "All right everyone, get dressed, take your personal and group gear and follow me. You've got five."

"Get going, people" Zack continued "This ain't the first time around, you know the drill."

Ayase certainly did not, sure he knew he was supposed to change into his thermal suite and put on the air supplying unit on it, but he couldn't figure out if he has done it correctly, it would be horrible to find out while choking.

Ayase struggled with the buckles and straps while desperately watching the others finishing their preparations and exiting their dormitory.

"Need some help, little guy?" someone approached him.

"Bailey …"

Ayase could not help but smile with relief.

"Turn over and let me see."

Ayase blinked a tear away and obeyed.

"Looks …just about… fine…" the young man reassured him after tightening one of the straps a bit and fumbling with a plastic tube."You know how this works, right? In there, there's a catalyst that takes your carbon dioxide and breaks it back to oxygen. It has about six hours worth of work before it needs refreshing and you can monitor it with this bracelet- once it turns blue you've got one minute to plug it into a power source for recharging… I would not worry about it, though, because you'll stay mostly at the pit and not venture out. Your bracelet is also a communicator, so you could keep in touch with the rest of us. You know how to use it, right?"

"Yes…" Ayase said hesitatingly. "Every bracelet has a number on it. You press the number of the person you want to speak to and then press "send"."

"What happens if you only press "send"?"

"Then everyone hears you."

"Great, what's Kanou's number?"

"83"

"And Zack's?"

"48."

"Mine is 71, are you ready to go?"

"Yes." Ayase turned back, smiling gratefully; grabbing a hold on the medical bag he was in charge of and followed Hall out.

They were not heading to the dining hall as they did on maintenance duty, but deep into the mechanical section instead.

"No breakfast today?" Ayase asked and Hall smiled.

"No, baby, we go down on an empty stomach, safer this way. We can't have anyone vomiting into his breather, can we?"

Kanou was up in the lead, talking to Hassan and Zack as they walked, Ayase had no hope of catching up with him. His suite was itchy and it heated up quite quickly as they started to march, his medical bag was heavy on his shoulders along with his personal bag and he seemed to be unable to place his mask comfortably on his face, it was so confining and claustrophobic and he could not breath right.

"There you go." Someone yanked his mask off, Marcus.

Ayase moved his hand on his sweaty locks to keep them from falling on his eyes; it was already dark at the edge of his sight.

"You didn't have to put it on just yet…" Marcus sneered "And you were also hyperventilating which was a very bad combo."

"Thank you."

"Not at all…"

They continued to walk together, and Ayase noted that everyone has already passed them, they were the last in line, walking so slowly, and when Ayase realized that it was because of Marcus that they have opened this gap, he looked at the old man with worry.

"Are you alright?"

Marcus flinched at the question "A bit tired, that's all"

It looked like he was in some sort of a pain, his face was pale and his breath heavy but Ayase knew he would not be allowed to inquire any further.

So they walked on, corridor after corridor, screen after screen, some he though to recognize from the maintenance duty but then again, all those tunnels looked the same.

Then, the group had reached an area where the tunnel opened up into a very wide, high, and a very round cavity, and at its center there was a hollow pillar rising up and falling down where Ayase's gaze couldn't follow.

The Black group settled there, placing their gear down, breaking into small groups, lighting up cigarettes and chatting.

Ayase approached Kanou's group with shy steps but was welcomed with a warm smile. The talk was about the best way to split the men for the descending.

There was nothing he could contribute on the topic, so he settled next to Zack just enjoying the company. Ayase looked at his surrounding, trying to figure it out. The hall was vast and spacious, almost like a cathedral, but with near to no light, and it was of steel rather than marble that covered the walls, all the same it made him want to pray.

"We're at the center of the bolt" Zack answered his unspoken question. "There's an elevator pier here that goes all the way up or down. You've already used it once, don't you remember?"

Ayase shook his head; there were many things he could not recall at the moment, his entire life before 950A, for example, was a total mystery to him.

Minutes later, the Blue team arrived, the young twins in the lead and the rest of the lot following them. As one of the twins recognized Kanou in the crowd his face lit up and he raised his arm in a wave.

"You're late" Kanou greeted them.

"Actually we're on time." Homare answered smiling "You were early."

"A smoke?" Kanou offered both a cigarette "last one before the drop."

"Sure, why not."

"Thanks."

Homare and Misao took upon the offering and Kanou lent them his lighter as he gazed upon their men. "Your Blues are ready?"

"As ready as they'll ever be."

"That's our…" Misao tried to recall.

"Third trip down to hell" Homare reminded him "And yours?" He turned to Kanou.

"Eleventh…"

"No shit." Both twins choked on their smoke at the same time.

"Check this out…" Homare handed Kanou a tablet and the screen showed black white and grey security camera online video data.

"Hey that's our…"

"Dormitories, yes. We figured out that it would be best to keep an eye on them while we are away, in case Raus or one of his henchmen snoops around while we're gone. We know he's up to something fishy and we thought…"

"You thought right, brilliant, actually. Here, Ayase!" Kanou handed the tablet to the boy. "You'll be in charge of this. Any suspicious move and you report back to me, understood?"

"Yes, sir." The boy accepted the tablet with a shaky hand, and tucked it neatly in his backpack.

Hassan, accompanied by two black teammates and three others from the blue team approached Kanou's group.

"We are all set to go." Hassan said smiling. "Much looking forwarded for two months at the tip"

"Sure you are."

"I've heard that you bought the new carbon filters from the Greens. What a relief and to think we were about to go down with invalid ones… How did you convince them to sell?"

"That was easy." Kanou smirked "They are six months away from their downstairs duty, plus they're broke thanks to Gion's scheming. It was an easy bargain"

"And a genius one, sir. I bet you could have been a great business man out there, in a different life perhaps."

"In a different life I'd be a billionaire." Kanou smirked. "And I'd run a flying circus."

"All ends well then…" Hassan smiled "I'll be off now; we'll start sending the platforms down as soon as we're settled."

"Great. Don't forget, once we're in, I expect radio contact once every two hours."

"I know the drill, sir. Best of luck."

"You too."

oOOo

The first platform arrived about 45 minutes after Hassan's departure. It was a hideous thing, a heavy pallet of bare steel, falling down out of nowhere, making no sound at all. Two cables of metal followed it, like giant anacondas, one colored blue and the other red.

"Platform one launched, please confirm." A radio transmission came from Kanou's control bracelet, Hassan's voice.

"Confirmed." Kanou answered. "Keep rolling them down."

"Roger that."

"O.k. First wave, get on board." Kanou ordered.

"First wave, go go go!" Misao hurried his men.

And the first group of four approached the platform, placing their breathers on their faces, loading their gear and taking their positions.

Zack was on the first wave, as well as Homare and wait… was Kanou on the first wave too?

"Kanou-san!" Ayase could not stop himself from running into the man's arms.

Kanou lowered his gaze to the boy, amusement glittering in his eyes. "What's with you?" he mumbled softly, obviously embarrassed in front of their audience.

"I want to go with you." Ayase buried his face in the man's chest.

"First wave is the most dangerous one." Kanou answered "If things get wrong they usually get wrong on the first wave. It is safer that way."

"No!" Ayase nearly wept.

"Let go now." Kanou chuckled softy "Let go. See you soon." And with that, and a kiss, Kanou freed himself and joined the others at the pallet.

"Take us down" He whispered to his bracelet.

"Down you go." Hassan answered, and Kanou smiled at Ayase before placing his mask on.

Ayase only caught a glimpse of it, as with silence, the platform hurled down so fast it almost looked like it evaporated into thin air.

On the second wave Hall and Misao left, and on the third wave Ayase recognize two more friendly faces biding him farewell. He was left on the last group with no one he knew save Marcus.

It seemed like forever until their platform arrived, and as much as Ayase longed for it to show up, he dreaded it when it finally came reeling in. He found himself staring at it, until Marcus places his heavy hand upon his shoulder. "Come help me out with the medical gear."

"Yes." Ayase breathed deeply and followed Marcus's lead.

Ayase's worry for Marcus only grew as they carried their bags to the pallet, only yesterday Marcus lifted those bags with ease and today, every step was a struggle, and they were among the last to go on board.

Marcus took out a cotton handkerchief from his pocket to wipe out the sweat from his face before settling in.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Ayase asked as he tried to figure out how to encore himself to the safety bars.

"Would you stop your nagging already?" Marcus grumbled at him while helping him settle in. "If you must know the truth- the truth is that this is my 26'th trip down, and I'm sick and tired of it. There you go, happy?"

"Marcus I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

"Just put your goddamned mask on!"

Ayase sighed and did as he was told. As much as he tried to oppress it, he could not shake his excitement away. It was his first time downstairs and he felt safe under Kanou's wings, safe as a kid with his father buckling up for his first roller coaster ride, and he knew this was foolish but he was truly eager to explore the depths of this asteroid, from bits and pieces he picked up of random conversations, he knew downstairs to be both horrific and breathtakingly beautiful.

"Hello sweet pea." Someone sat down near him, far too close, rubbing against his shoulder. "It has been a long time, but still…do you remember me? Tom?"

Ayase turned to look at the man, and he was familiar but in an uncomfortable, repelling way, he had no clue.

"Must be the shave." Tom mumbled with disappointment.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Ayase tried to be polite.

"You will, honey, you will..." Tom smiled again revealing his teeth that were for some reason decorated with silver, and then that smile disappeared behind a mask, which was an improvement at least at Ayase's opinion.

Their wave leader passed his glance on the group and then gave his green light for Hassan to start lowering them down.

oOOo

Ayase soon forgot all about his creepy neighbor, and disregarded him as someone who happened to share his ride but will have no further interaction with, and he focused on the descent, it felt wonderful at first, his heart accelerated with the speed of the plunge. He felt weightless, light as a feather, and he felt a wave of air brushing though his hair, which was the only exposed part of his body, and still it has been ages since he felt a breeze and he enjoyed it as it came.

He wondered what will happen if he let go of the bars. Will his hand rise up as floating? He freed one hand and indeed felt it pulled gently up, until someone took it by force and placed it back at the bar, Marcus, and he mumbled something incoherent behind his mask.

"What?"

"Keep them down if you wanna keep them at all!" the old man scolded him, naturally.

"Embrace yourselves." The wave leader announced at the public communicator.

Ayase looked around to see everyone crouching down, so he did his best to imitate them.

"Airlock." The leader informed them as they came into a sudden halt.

Ayase found himself glued to the flood, but this uncomfortable feeling lasted only a few seconds.

They all looked up, so Ayase raised his eyes to, to see two enormous platforms closing in above them, casting an ever growing shadow and sealing them away from the light.

Then a noise, a machine of a sort, screeching and moaning, what was its function? The ringing of his ears gave it away; the air was sucked out of their chamber, and the pressure in his ears grew larger and larger until he thought his ears would bleed, but instead it was his nose that bled. His first instinct was to try and remove the mask to pinch it, but both Tom and Marcus stopped his hand.

"No, silly boy!" Tom giggled.

"Leave it on!" Marcus roared.

"Airlock established, hands on bars." The wave leader continued, he was one of the blue team, and Ayase didn't know him, yet he seemed very calm and that was what really mattered.

Ayase decided to comply this time, as two platforms opened beneath them, but holding no lights, and the plunge continued, slower this time and a bit more shaky, but no air movement and no sound save the sound of his own breathing, and it was cold, it was getting colder by the second, creeping underneath his thermal suit to freeze his sweat.

"Illuminate the flanks." The wave leader commanded, and the inmates in position turned on the platform flank flashlights, and they gave away an eerie pale blue glow as if they were diving into an ocean.

"Look up." Tom placed his arm upon Ayase's shoulder, and as much as the boy wanted to brush it away, he lingered, paralyzed maybe, enjoying the other's body warmth perhaps, so he looked up, and his breath was taken away.

They were diving down a narrow chasm, made entirely of metal ores, and the only human signature on it was the little track the platform moved upon, the rest was razor sharp sculptured, glittering like diamonds, still and frozen like ice and it was beautiful as much as it was scary.

"300 kilometers to the pit going at 60 kilometers per hour." The commander said "Five hours till touchdown, try to get some rest."

After that, the commander disconnected himself from the public radio, and an unnatural silence filled their decline.

Ayase could not tare his gaze from his surroundings; he drank in the breathtaking view of this natural deep pore, with its colorful metal wall, carved as if a giant hand clawed it with its nails, blue and purple and green, sometimes even gold spots adorned it, and it reminded him the color of a water puddle tainted with oil.

A heavy burden fell on his shoulder, warm and weary; Ayase turned towards it and saw Marcus silvery mane resting against his shoulder.

"Are you ok?" he asked the old man but his voice must have not breached his clumsy mask, and Marcus did not respond.

Frustrated he knew that all he could do was to wait, until this dive would be over, until they reach whatever it is downstairs that was waiting for them.

Ayase took a deep breath, leaned into his sit and closed his eyes. Five more hours, the wave leader said, he really should try and get some sleep.


	11. A time and a place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning- Heavy on the plot and [whispering]- Heterosexual sex.

**Silver and cold**

 

"…Outer space is where we get together  
And this place we're meant to be  
Stars are dancing and the time is fading  
Dead forever,  
You and me…"

T.A.T.U- Cosmos (Outer Space)

 

**A time and a place**

 

"Velocity stabilized, hands off bars, and five hours to go, people. Use it well and try to get some shut eye, wave leader out."

Zack finished and disconnected the public communication, he smiled as Kanou hunched over him and gazed at his control panel.

"Are the shock absorbers online?"

"Yes sir, they are."

"And the scanner's reading is clear?"

"It is, we'll get a ten minutes warning if there's any obstacle in our way."

"Good, you've checked the breaks performance at the airlock, right?"

"Yes I did, and they are fully functioning. I got this, ok? I know what to do, so why won't you chill, huh? Back off already? You're choking me, man!"

"I can help."

"Fuck you, Kanou! What did you promise?"

"But this is your first time and…"

"What did you promise?"

"I promised you'd be the wave leader." Kanou admitted pouting and removed himself from Zack's personal space.

"Damn right you did! Now shut up and let me do my thing."

"Fine, whatever." Kanou mumbled and leaned back into his huge kitbag.

"That's more like it, and get some rest, that's a wave leader's order." Zack smirked, basking in his small victory.

"Asshole…" Kanou mumbled but made himself comfortable, using his bag as a pillow and closed his eyes.

He was itching for a cigarette, itching bad, and knowing he won't be able to have one for the next two months only made that bitch worse. A distraction, he needed a distraction ... Ayase , beautiful, sweet, lovely Ayase, oh…all the things he wanted to do to him… fuck… bad idea, unless he wants to have an erection and come in his pants like a twelve years old.

But Ayase, he wanted him ever since he laid eyes on him even as a child, how sick was that? But then again, considering…When was it? Has it already been eight years?

 

 

_**Eight years ago…** _

 

 

He woke up.

As impossible as it was, and yet he woke up and was warm and breathing, a bit weak and dizzy but as unlikely as it was, still owning a heartbeat.

He remembered some of it, bits and pieces, the alien vessel, the battle, the victory, the damage, his ship slowly disintegrating into scrap, the evacuation, the blasts, the explosions, his brother.

Kanou turned to look at his bandaged arm, where the stab wound has already began healing, then he looked at his surrounding, and realized he in a sort of infirmary, on a hospital cot, a cast on his left leg, an iv in his right arm, a bandage on his other, and by the look of his dressed chest, it seemed like he had undergo an operation.

A medical robot came to life as it detected his movement. "Hello, sir, welcome back." It said in an artificial cheerful way. "Try not to move."

"Where am I?" Kanou demanded, ignoring his dizziness and getting up.

"You are on board the spaceship Eos, sir, please return to your bed."

"Take me to the commander of this ship!"

"Sir, please don't remove the sensors off your body."

"Fuck you, bended bolt!"

"Please mind the cast and the iv, sir."

"Take me to the commander, now!" Kanou roared.

"Follow me." The robot obliged, his hydraulic hiss sounded like sighing.

It seemed like a long journey through the ship's halls and corridors, while leaning on his iv pole, and trying not to put too much weight on his broken leg, fighting nausea and dizziness, if he was in his right mind he would have already recognize the ship's type.

The robot finally led him into a large luxurious hall, decorated with silver and gold engravings, large velvet, wine-colored drapes hung from the ceiling all the way down to the polished marble floor.

No one seemed to be in that royal chamber, but then again, as Kanou scanned his surrounding he noticed that there was actually a man there, standing in front of a wide window, where a hauntingly beautiful view of a blue planet, swirling slowly in space, was displayed.

The man was tall, almost as tall as him, impressively built, dressed in all white, and with a long, golden blonde hair that reached passed his midsection. As he detected the intrusion, he turned and gazed at Kanou with his bright blue eyes.

"I'm sorry master, but the man insisted." The robot said.

"Not at all." Said master answered in his deep voice, smiling. "You may return to your station."

Everything about that man screamed gold, and Kanou knew he should bow down, but he wouldn't manage without toppling over and making a fool of himself.

The robot rattled away and left Kanou alone with the gold, astounded and speechless.

"Welcome on board the Eos, silver. I have picked you up on my way here, and as soon as I finish my business on this planet, in two week's time, I'll drop you off at the nearest silver post. So, until then, you are my honorable guest, use this time to heal and recuperate, feel free to remain onboard or join me when we land, whatever suits you best."

Kanou gasped, wordless still.

The gold's amusement showed on his handsome face. "My name is Iason Mirai, but you may call me Iason."

Kanou almost gaped, this was unheard of, one would never call a gold by his name.

"Your name, silver?"

"Kanou Somuku, sir."

"Iason will do, you see, I might be gold, but I do not belong to the Union, not anymore, not for a long while now…so please, Kanou-san, all those formalities are unnecessary. Can I offer you a drink? I was just helping myself to some wine."

Kanou did not know what to do, it was not his place to share a drink with a gold, yet refusing was not an option either.

The gold walked towards the little table set by the window and returned with two glasses filled with the crimson liquor, handing one to Kanou and raising the other.

"To you, Kanou Somuku, one lucky bastard."

Kanou had to smile now, so he raised his toast and tasted that delicious wine.

"You'd be pleased to know that all the life pods you evacuated from your ship had reached the jump point safely. My AI analyzed the comms and it seems like you managed to save 60% of the crew. We detected only three life signs, but only you survived upon our arrival. Were you the commander of that vessel?"

"The second in command, sir, my brother was the captain." Kanou said, glancing at his bandaged arm unknowingly.

The gold seemed to read into his sorrow. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you."

Iason drank the wine quietly, and Kanou took to the exceptional view outside.

"Ain't that a sight?" The gold followed Kanou's gaze. "Consider yourself lucky, all models show that in millennia or so this sun would swell up into a red giant and incinerate it."

"Where are we?"

"What do they teach you at the Union, Kanou-san? Have you never saw a picture of it in your school books? This is Earth, the cradle of the humankind."

The impact of that statement was the last straw, Kanou felt his head pounding, his legs became like water and the edge of his sight had darkened. The glass left his hand and shuttered into pieces on the floor.

A white leather couch detected his motion and propelled itself further to catch him, preventing him from falling flat. From a hidden nook of the room, came two tiny drones to gather the shattered glass and remove the spilled liquid, before returning to their hole.

Iason frowned upon the commotion and placed his own glass back on the small table. "My apologies; offering you alcohol may not have been such a great idea. Food however…" he said and pressed a button on his white sleeve. "Please send in two lunch trays." He commanded and then turned to look at Kanou again "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am fine." Kanou settled into the comfortable furniture. "So this is the one and only Earth?"

"Yes indeed." Iason smiled and gazed out the window again. "A little bit older and hotter, with less dry land and more pollution, deserted and forgotten although the poles are still inhabitable. Can you imagine that at its peak it supported 20 billion people?"

"A bit crowded, I must say."

"20 billion people." Iason repeated with awe. "The filthy rich and the hopelessly poor, the brilliant and the ignorant, the anonymous and the celebrated, all cramped up together on this medium sized rock, unbelievable, yes? If someone had farted the rest of them would smell."

Kanou smirked at the use of the coarse vocabulary, never had he imagined a gold using such words, and still, he liked it about Iason, it was sort of refreshing.

A young man entered the room, pushing a cart of food, his demeanor and build suggested a simple copper origin. He bowed slightly towards Iason and then turned to the corner of the hall where a dining area was set, to prepare it for lunch.

"Thank you, Daryl." Iason smiled as the boy finished and left the room again. "Come on, Kanou, you must taste this, my food generator is one of a kind, nothing like what you have on standard silver vessels."

The gold gestured with his hand towards the dining area, and the delicious scent of the food gave its own invitation, so Kanou eventually overcame his deliberations and took his place at the table.

What a wonderful dish was set before him, with food he had seen and tasted only a few times in his life, on special occasions only, a premium piece of juicy steak, small and crispy roasted potatoes with a buttery sauce poured upon them, a bundle of blanched asparagus shoots with a slice of lemon on top and a fresh side salad.

"Enjoy." Iason invited him with a smile.

There was no point at ogling and drooling, and he was indeed very hungry, so Kanou picked up his cutlery and began to eat.

At first they ate in silence, and Kanou was relieved to know that his table manners were not half as bad, although Iason handled himself with much more grace.

"Tell me about yourself." Iason said after a while. "I wish to know my honored guest a little bit better."

This was odd, a gold taking interest in a silver? But a lot of things seemed strange about Iason, so Kanou pushed his confusion to the back of his mind and obliged.

"Alright." he cleared his throat. "My name is Kanou Somuku, I am twenty six standard years old. I am a combat pilot; specialized at one on one, but I also flew a few deep space missions. Up to date I took down about seventy alien crafts and three rebels' ones."

"Impressive, for someone so young." Iason hummed. "Well, you are compared to me." He added as Kanou frowned "I am about three hundred years old. How many brothers do you have?"

"I was told that we were a batch of fifty, but I only served with one, and met only a few others over the years. I don't know how many are still alive."

"A batch of fifty, you say? Must be a successful design. As for myself I had only two brothers, but as you know- gold are not judged by numbers, we are more of… custom made."

"Your brothers are dead?"

"As I was told, I have never met them. Please tell me about your hobbies, if you don't mind. What do you do when you're not fighting off aliens or defending the Union?"

Kanou swallowed a half chewed morsel, and moved with unease; never did he imagine talking to a gold about such trivialities.

"Well, I enjoy practicing martial arts, Taijutsu is my favorite."

"Really? Kendo is mine." Iason responded with delight. "If you were not injured I would have offered a spar."

"Some other time?" Kanou could not believe he was actually looking forward to it, although the chances were that they will never meet again.

"I also enjoy studding history." Iason added. "Do you have any hobbies that don't involve violence?"

Kanou would have said sex, but it was probably inappropriate, so he shook his head instead and picked up a potato with his fork instead.

"One can learn so much from history." Iason continued "Especially how it insists on repeating itself." His voice drifted away into contemplative thoughts.

He let Kanou eat in peace after that, his mind seemed to be elsewhere.

"The food was wonderful." Kanou said when finished, he almost cleared everything off his plate before pushing it away. "Thank you for the meal."

"You're welcomed, but you should thank Daryl actually, he is the one to operate the food generator like an artist." Iason did not finish his own portion, but he seemed to be done eating as well.

Something had bothered the gold, he got up and started pacing back and forth until he reached the window, then he pressed on his sleeve bottom again. "No sign of them yet?" he asked.

A female voice answered "No sir, I'll inform you as soon I pick them up on my scanner."

"Thank you, Mimea, please send Daryl in to clean up."

"Will do." The female pilot answered.

"How many crew members do you have?" Kanou asked, joining Iason at the window again.

"Just us three, five robots, ten drones and an AI."

"I never flew with less than a hundred." Kanou noted, but he never flew in a none-combat vessel either. "Don't you get lonely?"

"We manage." Iason said and turned to him with a mischievous smile. "But whenever we get bored we pick up half dead silvers from destroyed battleships to spice things up."

Daryl came back in with an empty cart and started clearing up the table, and Mimea got on line again.

"Sir, they are approaching and will be here in three standard hours."

"All of them?"

"Yes sir, all are accounted for."

Iason's handsome face lit up with joy and relief. "Wonderful news, thank you very much." He nearly clapped his hands with excitement, and then he turned to the silver. "I need your answer, Kanou-san; will you be joining the landing or stay on-board?"

"Who in his right mind would give up an opportunity to walk on the Earth's soil?" Kanou answered back with a question.

"We should get ready, then."

**oOOo**

 

They gave him some clothes that belonged to Iason, and although a bit small, they were better than the pale-green medical scrubs, other equipment they provided him was basic hygiene utilities and his medication, he needed nothing else and they were very kind.

The descending of the shuttle took about half an hour, and the female pilot, Mimea, did quite a decent job landing them smoothly. During the flight, Kanou couldn't help himself so he checked her out. A female pilot was such a rarity, and she seemed to be a copper just like Daryl, a female and a civilian, where did she learn to fly?

She was a very sexy pilot too, with her blue-green eyes and her short lavender hair, her pale skin and her busty, curvy body.

She noticed his glaring at the flight, and as they unbuckled she gave him a playful smile. "First time on Earth, soldier?"

"Yes." He said, staring at her and licking his lips. "What of it?"

She giggled and shrugged "Enjoy your stay."

The flirting did not go unnoticed on Iason's part either, he pulled the woman towards him and whispered something in her ear, she giggled again and then both she and the gold looked at Kanou.

"We should get going." Iason said and freed his pilot from his hold.

As the shuttle door opened, Kanou closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling Earth's air into his lunges for the first time, and it was warm, humid and a bit salty.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in front of a sea of dark green grass, endless and ever moving with the soft warm breeze. The skies were black and decorated only with the glittering silver sleeves of the Milky Way and Andromeda, but the rims were dyed with brilliant shades of sunset- pink and purple and gold, but the way those colors danced about made Kanou gasp, realizing he was actually staring at the polar light.

"Where are we?" he asked, and found that only Daryl was close enough to answer since Iason and Mimea did not linger like he did and opened a gap between them.

"Greenland." the boy answer "Once it was a land of ice but now it suits its name better."

"Greenland…" Kanou mumbled after him.

"Are you coming, sir?" the boy asked, annoyed a bit; he could not have known that Kanou found it hard to take his first step on the Earth.

"Yes, sure." Kanou held his breath, adjusted his crutch, and left the shuttle. He took his first step slowly, letting his body respond to the pull of Earth's gravity, few strides after, he had gained confidant and hurried to catch up with the rest.

They were walking in the field of green for a few more minutes, the stars and the polar light were their only illumination, yet it was strong enough, in a sort of an eerie and bewitching way.

Kanou could not detect signs of civilization, not until they have reached a compound of few houses, which seemed intact and well maintained but also uninhabited. There were shadows hovering near the compound, and as they came near, those shadows took the form in a group of men and women, and there were a few children too.

At that point Iason turned to look at Kanou. "This is a family reunion." He explained "We try to do this once a year. I'll introduce you, but please understand- some of our talks will be personal and you won't be allowed in partaking them."

Kanou said nothing; he was too baffled to do so, since when did a gold have a family? And those people, they did not even look gold. Most of them looked copper, and some even seemed to be iron.

Yet there was one boy who looked like gold, he had recognized Iason approaching and ran into his arms. "Daddy!" the boy screamed with delight but once he noticed the others he stopped himself and blushed.

"Who is here? My sweet little boy! Look at how you've grown! " Iason picked the boy up as if he was weightless, laughing and kissing his rosy cheek. The boy buried his face in the gold's torso so he would not peek at the others.

"Did you miss me?" Iason asked, petting the boy's hair gently.

The boy nodded, face still buried in his father's broad shoulder.

"Have you been good? Been nice to your aunt and uncle? Studied hard?"

Another silent nod to each question and Iason chuckled.

"Well, I am very proud of you, Ayase-kun, and very happy to see you, too. Now, now, I am going to put you down, and you are going to greet my friends politely, yes?"

The boy nodded again, and Iason put him down.

"Hello Mimea and Daryl." The boy looked up while blushing and greeted his father's crew.

Kanou could not remember ever laying his eyes upon such a beautiful child, his supple pale skin, his soft blonde hair, his huge blue eyes. It was like encountering an angel, and in a disturbing, dark way, unexplained desire seemed to ignite in his loins, he frowned upon it and fought to chase it away.

"Now this is my new friend Kanou."

"Hello, my name is Yukiya Ayase, nice to meet you." The child whispered.

Iason took pity on him. "Alright, good boy, now go back to your aunty, I'll be joining you really soon, I promise"

"Ok." The boy agreed and turned to run back to the group of which he came from.

Iason watched him fondly, and his tenderness lingered as he turned back to Kanou. "I wish to join my family now." He said apologetically "I hope it is alright with you if I introduce you later on. In the mean while, you can find your room at the compound. Mimea, dear, please take care of him and see that he settles in."

"Will do." The woman answered.

Iason bowed and walked away towards the crowd that awaited him, Daryl at his side.

When they were left alone, a predatory smile rose upon Mimea's lush lips.

"So… soldier…" She approached him with a sensual sway and latched herself onto his body. "You've heard the Capitan …" she hung one hand on his nape and her other traveled down between his legs to stroke his hardening member through the fabric of his pants."Would you let me take care of you?"

Kanou smiled back at her. "Yes, please?"

She giggled, pressing her soft breasts to his torso, and then she let him go and turned, walking away. "Follow me."

**oOOo**

 

Family reunion, my ass; Kanou thought as he was nursing his beer bottle and viewing the ongoing party that celebrated the conclusion of that event. The people here had no blood ties to one another, they didn't even look like they had shared the same planet, and those ridicules code names… he even caught two of them in a conversation where they had mistaken one code name for another.

After two weeks in the play, he had figured out what they were- a crime syndicate, an organized group of smugglers, traffickers and drug dealers, choosing Earth as a hideout for their annual gathering, where they discussed politics, future endeavors and the splitting of the loot.

He had already decided not to report them to the Union, syndicates like this were a dime a dozen, and with his luck, they will appoint him to take them down, how tedious, he was more interested in fighting aliens, thank you very much.

And what's with a gold having a kid? Kanou was not naïve enough to buy that lie; even a silver like himself had known that the Gold and the Silver were produced sterile, so their precious, carefully engineered genes would not leak into the general population. Of course there were the labs, but they were under excessive supervision, what were the odds of a silver or a gold using one undetected? Maybe there were labs on the off worlds? Even so… why would a gold crave a child? They were practically immortals.

Perhaps this wasn't Iason's child. What if that boy was his pet? His sex slave? This was not unheard of, a gold, a head of a crime syndicate, a man that answer to none, he could do whatever the fuck he wanted, even do a child.

Iason did not show up for the party, was it because a three hundred year old found no interest in it? Or was he too busy fucking his boy toy? Whatever, this was none of his business; he decided to take this experience as an unexpected vacation, he had good food, chilled alcohol and a fine pussy, what more could he ask for?

"Come dance with me!" Mimea showed up before him, glittering with sweat and excitement. She had been dancing for the past two hours and now demanded his participation. "Come on, we must celebrate the removal of your cast!"

"By breaking my leg again?" he resisted her efforts of pulling him up off the couch, and at the end, she fell on top of him, giggling.

"You're no fun." She pouted.

"I hate dancing and this horrible music…"

"Electro-house, so very, very, very retro."

"The fuck I care."

She straightened up and ogled him. "What did you say? Something about a fuck?"

"Interested?' he smirked at the girl, she was insatiable, but so was he.

"This party sucks, let's get out of here." She concluded, picking up herself and pulling him up again, this time he did not resist.

In a matter of minutes, they were back in her room, to think of it, he never spent much time in his designated room in his entire stay.

As soon as they stepped in and closed the door, she got down on her knees and unzipped him. His hard member practically bounced out of its confinement.

"No underwear?" she hummed her adoration and took him into her mouth.

"Why bother?" he asked, placing his hand on her hair, stroking it lightly, as she sucked him.

That wicked woman, the things she could do with her tongue, and her fingers, and her… teeth? He managed not to thrust into her mouth, and let her dictate the pace, but just barely so. He leaned against the wall, moaning with pleasure, feeling her lips sucking him into her hot, wet mouth, deep down her throat.

And then, as he almost came, she stopped.

"What? Why?" he protested.

"Got bored…" she got up and took him by the hand "Bed now."

He followed, and they both discarded their clothes on the way, and she beat him to it, getting up on the soft mattress and waiting there for him with open legs. The sight of her open, pink cunt, nearly made him trip over his tossed shoes, and she giggled.

"Eyes on target, soldier."

He got on top the bed, and on top of her, smirking and eager.

"Give it to me." Mimea whispered, a taunt glittered in her eyes.

"Be careful what you wish for." He answered and started thrusting into her, hissing as her fingernails dug into his ass.

She was a grade A fuck, and she was one of the few that could keep up with him. He came three times in her pussy, once between her breasts and once up her ass. And as a testimony to his skills and efforts, she came a more than a few times as well, moaning so loudly he thought that by now everyone on the planet knew that they were doing each other, Iason included.

When they finished for the last time, she softly kissed him on his cheek.

"Thank you for a lovely time." She whispered in his ear. "I'd miss it." She pouted, throwing a sad glance over his spent cock.

"Really? It?" he chuckled "Is that all you got to say?"

She shrugged "I'm a romantic soul. Now let's hit the shower, I stink."

**oOOo**

 

It was the dawn of his last day on Earth. Kanou left Mimea's bedside to take a walk in the open air. As he walked, he gazed at the brightening sky, that held a perfect shade of blue, not to be seen on any other planet, but it was still dark enough not to chase away most of the stars. The days here lasted only few standard hours, because now was winter at the North Pole, or so did Mimea told him, such a hot winter made him wonder what summer was all about.

He lit himself a cigarette, and his hands shook as he handled the lighter, that shit again? It happened a few times in the last couple of days along with sweating and the acceleration of his heart rate as if it was trying to burst his chest.

"It's the withdrawal;" Came a deep voice from somewhere, a bench in front of a house nearby. "You've been off for two weeks now and it's beginning to show."

Kanou frowned, he thought he had managed to keep that weakness well hidden, Mimea surly haven't notice and he had spent the majority of his time in her bed. Then again, Iason was gold and not many things went under their perfectly shaped noses.

"You know that they issue you drugs, yes?"

"I know." Kanou approached the bench and set by the gold. "Before any major battle, or deep space flight they give us pilots Cold."

The blonde smirked. "They give you all sorts of drugs all the time. That's the only way to keep peace in a battleship crowded with silvers that are light years away from the nearest female."

Well, it made sense but Kanou didn't want to know more about it, however there was a question that has been bugging him for years, and he never though one day he'd find a gold willing to answer it.

"If we are sterile as they say, why didn't they remove our sexual desire? Would have simplified things."

The beautiful gold tried to hide his appreciation, not many silvers were intelligent enough to even notice. "I'd answer for a price." He declared.

"What price?" Kanou frowned at him.

"A cigarette, I'm all out."

"Oh…" Kanou handed him the pack and lighter.

"What did you think I'd ask for?' Iason raised a brow while lighting up his smoke. "As for your question- they have tried, but soon they found out that the same hormone system that is responsible for a sex drive was also responsible for all sort of useful attributes such as creative thinking, and that's not something you'd want to lose."

Kanou took a minute to let it sink in, and again, it made sense.

"I'd answer your next question for free." Iason continued "Ayase is not my sex slave."

Kanou nearly choked on his cigarette.

"You'd be surprised to know how many have speculated the same thing, and I saw that question on your face."

"Where?"

"The bloated vein between your brows."

"I was never going to ask that question."

"But you were wondering."

"Why would a gold like you give a shit about what an asshole of a stranger was wondering?"

"My love for Ayase is pure, and to know that others taint it in their mind is hurtful, gold have feelings too, you know." Iason's voice sounded sad and honest.

"I've only met one or two golds before." Kanou recalled "Pretentious, irritating buggers."

Iason moved uncomfortably on his seat but said nothing.

"Is Ayase gold?" Kanou asked, drawn again to that beautiful kid against his will.

"I don't know what Ayase is" Iason admitted, much to Kanou's dismay "his DNA profile was very confusing. Some of the experts I consulted through the years have even suggested he was some sort of an alien hybrid."

"Huh?"

"We found ten of them in a Union carrier, boys and girls, no more than two years old, and he was the only one still out of the cryogenic cell when we boarded the ship. I took him in my arms back to Eos, but another Union ship jumped in before we could upload the rest. We were unable to confront that heavy battleship, so we were force to leave the others behind."

"A battleship?" seems like there was some expensive loot on that carrier.

"The records suggested that they were heading to a gold class planet, were those children would be placed in a Gold only brothel."

So that boy was destined to become a sex slave after all.

"Why did you keep him? Could have made a lot of profit, his DNA alone could have…"

"Is that what you think I am? A black-market trafficker?" Iason interrupted with raised voice, he seemed infuriated and offended.

"Are you not?"

"No! Not for a long time now, anyway. I was only trying to do some good"

Kanou had to laugh at that statement. "Why did you desert the Union, then? As a gold, you were in the perfect position to do some good."

"You sure are an inquisitive one, Kanou-san." Iason finished his smoke and squished the butt under his boot.

Iason's remark made Kanou remember his place and scold himself for discarding it. "I'm sorry, I should get going…"

Iason's hand on his thigh prevented him from getting off the bench, though.

"Do you know how the Gold-Silver-Copper system came to be?" the gold asked, letting go of Kanou only after he return to his seat.

Kanou shrugged. "They teach the silvers warfare, sir, not ancient history."

"Please indulge an old man." Iason said as Kanou stretched on the bench. "Mimea and Daryl never take interest in my stories."

"I have a short attention span." Kanou lighted a new cigarette with the butt of the other before tossing it into a patch of greenery by their seat.

"I thought you were a curious one, and what I am about to tell you isn't common knowledge, not even among the gold."

"Is that so?"

Iason smiled as he detected a spark of interest in Kanou's flat voice.

"Remember what I've told you about Earth sustaining 20 billion people? Sustaining might not describe it accurately; it wasn't pretty- half the world was struggling with the fall of the capitalist economy and the democratic system, the other half battled with religion fanatics. Add global warming to the mix and get the picture, the future of humanity seemed bleak. That's why when they found the first jump point at the outskirts of the solar system; it was like a blessing from the gods."

"Did aliens create the jump point network?"

"We believe that some of the points are natural space-time folds, but some seems artificial, so yes. We know now that every jump point is nexus, but back then they could use it to reach the default exit alone, and that historical JP led them to an Earth type planet, that was not only habitable but also contained relics of a dead advanced civilization."

"That's a hole in one."

"Indeed. Imagine the dilemma now- what to do with this astounding discovery? What was the best way to use this new planet? Should they go on public? Should they start an immigration operation?"

"Yeah, naturally. No?"

"The governments that made the discovery looked upon the Earth to find drug addicts, shallow celebrities, greedy tycoons, terrorist, genetically enhanced monsters and all sort of scum and asked themselves, do we really want that Zoo? Do we need another useless Earth?"

"Not really, I guess."

"The answer was no. They decided to use this opportunity to learn from past mistakes. They came out to the press and informed the public about everything, save the fact that the planet was hospitable, and gathered a group of the brightest scientists, artists, philosophers, athletics, and elite soldiers to send them to the new planet as a research team. Once past the jump point, they declared losing contact with the ship, and announced its crew dead. The jump point was rendered unsafe and the whole thing was eventually forgotten."

"Clever."

"I believe so too. In the mean time, the settlers arrived safely and called their new home "Elpis", which means hope, and that was the first gold class planet ever to be founded. They took inspiration from Plato as they established their ideal state, and up until today; it is the home world of the Philosopher king and his Council of Reason."

"The higher-ups, I've heard about them. Have you ever met the king?"

Iason shook his head. "I've never been high level enough, though I once shook hands with a member of the council."

"Impressive." Kanou snorted.

"Mock me if you must, but it was a privilege, or so I thought at the time." Iason's handsome face winched with sudden pain. "They teach us the glory of the Gold regime and its wise king, but… I've seen enough to question it. The more I study, the more I discover about the blooded path of this 'perfect system'. Letting the majority of Earth's population perish in a dreadful way was only the start of it… and as a gold, I myself had witnessed atrocities done for the sake of its defense… Would this answers your question? As to why I left the Union?"

"I'm sorry for even asking, it wasn't my place."

"Yes it was, we are not Gold and Silver, Kanou-san, we are human beings, or at least what that has become of them."

Kanou said nothing and focused on finishing his second cigarette.

"Excuse me, I'd like to bid farewell to Ayase before his shuttle leaves." Iason said with sorrow, and got up, leaving Kanou to his thoughts.

**oOOo**

 

On their way back to civilization, Iason withdrew from Kanou's presence, leaving him in the company of Mimea and Daryl alone, but even Mimea has gotten colder and official with him, as if she regarded the time they had spent on Earth as a vacation's fling as well, and Daryl was never much of a company.

Three standard days later, Mimea announced on the comms that they have reached the nearest Silver outpost, and since they were unwilling to get any closer Iason offered one of their drones for the flight.

As Kanou prepared himself for the ride, the gold came into the launching platform, his face solemn and severe. "Are you ready to take off?" he asked, as he observed Kanou making the final preparations.

"Yes sir, I'm five by five."

"Are you sure you can fly this thing?"

"I can fly anything." Kanou cockily smirked. "This drone is military, Silver grade."

"We've confiscated it a while ago, now it will return to its rightful owners."

Kanou was a bit embarrassed by how sad Iason looked; he expected an emotional goodbye from Mimea and was slightly disappointed, but the gold? He turned to Iason, unsure if he should reach out his hand or bow down.

"Thank you for saving my life, I guess." he mumbled instead.

Iason smiled with a tweak of pain. "Don't thank me yet."

"Sorry, I don't follow…?"

"I've been tormented with this the whole flight here, you see, leaving you in your ignorance would be both beneficial to me and safer for you, but it would also go against my values and my belief that everyone deserve equal access to the truth. If I choose to deceive you, then I'm no better than them."

"Sir?" was all Kanou could say.

Iason bit his lips and drew in a long breath. "I am what they call the leader of the rebels."

"What?" Kanou gasped in astonishment.

"The defender of peace and protector of the off worlds."

"I know who it is!" Kanou almost shouted.

He also knew other names for him- the enemy of the union, the degenerate traitor, the aliens' lover. He knew exactly who he was, but never in his wildest dreams did he hope to meet him face to face.

He should try and kill him; he should try it right now!

"What you saw was the annual meeting of the rebel leaders; know that since I had compromised it, we will never use Earth again for a meeting place."

He should try and kill him now, with his bare hands if necessary, even if the ship's AI guns him down while trying. Why is he not moving?

"You took an enemy to your meeting place? What were you thinking? Risking the exposure of your top secrets to a silver?" Kanou rebuked him instead.

"Well… Mimea did most of the exposure." Iason answered and continued "Note that this drone was stripped out of weapons, and that we use nonstandard jump frequencies, so you won't be able to point us out to the Union."

"Are you out of your fucking mind? All this troubles and for what? For one shitty standard silver? You should have let me die, you fucking moron! You should kill me now, because there's no way in hell I'm not going to report all I know to my superiors!"

Iason stayed calm until Kanou finished his outburst and then he answered "If I kill you, I am no better than the Union. Here…"

Iason held out a little object, which Kanou recognized as a data storage device despite his shock.

"What the fuck?"

"You may report this as well, or better yet watch it and learn a thing or two about your precious Union."

"Why the fuck would I take it?" Kanou looked at the little device as if it was poisoned.

"You struck me as a curious one, Kanou, if you seek the truth then watch it, but know that if the Union find out about it you are as good as dead. If you wish to remain loyal to the Union then I suggest you dispose of it without watching."

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"I told you, we all deserve the truth."

"What's on it?"

"A little piece of history a silver like you might find interesting, it is confirmed and backed up with other evidences in my possessions, it is not a fake."

"What are you hoping to achieve?" Kanou asked angered but taking the little data device just the same.

Iason smiled again. "A next meeting, perhaps."

Why couldn't he kill him? Maybe because the man had just saved his life. Well, they were even now, but if they ever meet again, Kanou promised to remember his duty.

"This is so fucked up."

"I know, I'm sorry, I wish things were different as well, but I've made up my mind and it is time for you to make up yours."

Kanou placed the small device in his pocket and put his helmet on.

Iason watched him enter the drone and starting the engine.

"Ready to take off." He said on the comms.

"You are clear for takeoff, soldier, till we meet again." Mimea said, and it was the warmest thing she had said to him in the past three days.

"Moving to the airlock gate."

Iason stepped aside, watching the drone depart.

"Did we make the right call?" asked Mimea on the comms as they watched the drone enter space and flying away.

"Time will tell." Iason answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's fandom I bumped into ^_^


	12. The snake pit

''…Can't sit down  
And I can't stand up  
Cos if I do I know I'm gonna break  
I can't stay in, and I can't go out  
Cos if I do I know I'm gonna break…"

**Breakin - The Music**

 

**The snake pit**

 

He must have been sleeping because he found himself waking up to a violent screeching halt as the platform stopped its decent and came to a harsh standstill.

He held on to his safety bar until the pallet stopped shaking and as always gazed up at other people to study their reaction before he could find his own. Surprisingly enough, the men around him seemed to be indifferent and even stoic about the situation, as if they did not mind getting stuck at the middle of a chasm, hanging in by a thread above the oblivion.

The wave leader linked into the platform's communication. "We are having some sort of a technical problem." He informed them. "I'll contact the other leaders and get you informed ASAP, stand by."

And silence again, no one seemed to be troubled by this announcement except maybe Ayase.

"Are we stuck?" he asked Marcus but the man said nothing, just gave him a worn-out scolding gaze. "Are we stuck?" he turned towards Tom. "What happens if we get stuck?"

"Don't worry, they'll fix it." From under his mask, Tom gave him an all knowing smirk.

"It is a jumper… there is always a jumper." One mate of the blue team that sat on the other side of Tom said on the wave's comm.

"Hmmm…" was all that Tom had to say about it, as he relaxed against his kitbag again.

"Seems like some gear fell off the second platform and jammed the tracks." The wave commander informed them. "Kanou and Homare set up a team to fix it; we're looking at an half an hour delay to the max."

"A jumper alright…" The blue team mate repeated, this time pressing on his communicator device at his wrist to make it public for all to hear.

The wave leader glanced back at his chatty team mate and even without having a clear view of his face; it was obvious that he was frowning.

"Please remain seated and don't loosen your buckles, don't mess things up more than they already are, and also- shut up. Wave leader out."

For a few minutes, his warning worked and no one moved, Ayase among them. He tried breathing calmly, but it was getting difficult with every passing minute. He became ever more aware of his surrounding, the strange metallic taste of the recycled air that he was breathing, was that normal?

And cold, it was so cold, although he had his full thermal suit on, was his suit malfunctioning?

And when he shivered, his whole body jolted violently and he realized how weak the gravitation was, he had a feeling that if he even made the slightest wrong move, he'll end up off the platform and fall, and fall, and fall…

"Marcus…" he asked, almost begging."What's going on?"

"Must be Paul." Someone said, on the public communication, because it did not register from his wave. "He's been such a whining bitch yesterday, saying he's not never gonna set foot in that pit hole ever again. Did you jump off Paul? Or are you still with us, little crybaby?"

"Right here, cocksucker." Someone else answered also on the public communication. "Ain't going nowhere before you pay me back my fucking 500 credits, you fucking piece of shit!"

"Oh, hey Paul." Another answered and Ayase could hear laughter coming from many others on the public channel.

But the laughter died soon enough and the tension filled silence took its place again.

There were lights below them, illuminating the metallic abyss and disappearing again, giving life to its rainbow colors and then gone. Somewhere below something screeched again, was it a man's screaming? Or were those just Ayase's nerves giving up?

Silence again, and dancing lights, and heavy breathing. Tom? No, Marcus.

"Are you ok?" Ayase asked the old man, shaking him gently, fearing that if he's not careful he might just shove him off the platform.

The man did not answer, only huddled in his seat and glared into the emptiness.

"You know, a jumper would last a few hours in space, with the suit and all…" Someone said on the comm. "Plenty of time to think things over, if you ask me."

"Shit, that's heavy, man…" another breathed out.

"I don't know, Jackson, if the jumper has balls, he'll cut off the oxygen first." Someone else answered.

"Really, stupid fuck? D'ya know anyone fucking brave enough to do that?"

"I would." Some other said, sincerely enough to chill Ayase's bones.

"Yeah, right you would, shithole." Someone laughed.

"Yeah? And my mama has wings." Another agreed and chuckled at that statement.

"I'd fuck your mama." Someone suggested hopefully.

"Stay away from my mama, you crazy motherfucker!" The previous man answered, raging.

"Why you… bunch of idiots!" Another voice said "If you jump, you'd get caught in the gas giant's gravity and incinerate your sorry ass in the bloody atmosphere in less than five minutes."

"Piss off, wiseass! Everyone knows that if you jump, chances are you'd impale yourself on a razor sharp rock before you even get to leave the asteroid." Another contributed his opinion on the subject.

"Fuck even that, the radiation will toast you in seconds, before you freeze your brain out." Said one other. "I've seen it, it's ugly."

"I call bullshit, Dmitri, you saw shit!"

"Oh, but I saw some!"

"I saw your mama naked!"

"CUT THE CHATTER ON THE PUBLIC, CUNTS!" a new deep voice joined in, roaring with rage, elevated above all others. Ayase recognized Kanou in an instant. "We're trying to WORK here! Next one blubbering on the open channel, I'm gonna cut his balls and FEED it to him!"

After that warning all fell back into silence, and there was this long pause enough to make Ayase lose his mind.

He closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing or at least will his heart to stop beating so wildly in his chest. He knew that panicking was the last thing he needed right now, but he also knew that there was no way he could stop himself from it. Like the wimp that he was, like the miserable pathetic baby that he had became, or had always been but took 950-A to point that out to him.

Pathetic! Helpless little shit! Might as well jump! No one needs you! No one would miss you! Everyone you love is already dead! Father, Aunt, Granny… Everyone else back home already think that you're dead! And they don't give a damn! No one cares! So just die already!

But no! I've done nothing to deserve this! I am no traitor! I am not the enemy of the Union! It's all lies! I was just a normal person with a normal life! A student! Why am I here? I don't belong here with all those rapists and monsters and murderers! Get me out of here! Get me out of here!

He was hyperventilating, and could not stop himself, not even by biting his own lips and tasting his own blood. He felt the bitter tears leaving his eyes, but they had nowhere to go inside the mask. They just evaporated slowly to make a cloud of humidity and humiliation in front of his eyes. Damn it! He is caged in and cannot even see! He cannot do anything right!

But then, pleasure…. Unexpected pleasure between his legs, like jerking off, oh… so good, yes, and it stopped him from crying, and he could finally take a deep breath since what felt like forever.

He bucked into that pleasure, gasping, craving it, wanting more of that warmth; that contact. That strong hand touching him, not his own, whose was it?

Someone was stroking him between his legs; pressing his hand to his clothed groin, rubbing it with steady, knowing motions, driving the fear and the chill away from his body.

Part of him wanted to give into this unexpected pleasure, toss away the shame and self dignity and just get off, just take his mind off where he was and escape this hellhole for just one blissful moment, but some other part in him struggled, trying to clear his mind and restore his senses.

It took him every ounce of self discipline to wake up from his pleasure and remove the hand giving it, forcing his shivering thighs together as tightly as he could.

Tom, he saw through the cloud in his mask, it was Tom, and he was smiling at him.

"What were you doing?" Ayase asked, unable to stop his body from shivering.

"Giving you a hand job, sweet pea. Felt good, didn't it?" Tom leered at him. "Why did you stop me? Don't you wanna come?"

Do I want to come in my pants in front of all to see by a total stranger? Ayase shivered still.

"Thank you, but please move away from me." Ayase blushed under his mask, hoping the ground so swallow him, he never asked Tom for help, not that kind of help anyway.

"Oh, but you moaned so pretty…"

"No, I did not!" Ayase's breath had elevated again, his mind raced; who did he manage to give that wrong impression? "Please…just, stop." He mumbled, feeling his face burn with shame.

"Are you sure?"

"I am, and please… could we stop talking about it?"

"Why? There's nothing wrong with admitting…"

"Tom, let's just forget about it, please!" Ayase breathed, feeling tears well in his eyes again.

"Say 'please' one more time." Tom smiled his cruel smile, and leaned again towards Ayase. "You beg so sweetly…" he sent his hands again, one caressed the blonde's soft hair, the other drew circles on his clothed inner thigh, causing his member to stir up again against his will.

Ayase waited a few seconds, before realizing Tom was not going to stop on his own accord, so he tried to shove him, and with the weak gravity, he actually had managed to do so. Both Tom and Ayase were surprised at the result, and Tom had to hurry up and grab the safety bar before he'd find himself off the pallet.

"Don't ever touch me again, or I'll tell Kanou!" Ayase threatened through clenched teeth, if they would not have been clenched, they would have been clattering.

"But I only wanted to do you a favor, forgot that you were Kanou's good little slut, sorry." Tom snarled, he sounded a bit pissed off, humiliated by the fact that Ayase nearly made a jumper out of him.

"Stay away from me." Ayase breathed out, glancing towards Marcus, but the man, bundled into his seat, was far too lost in his own haunted mind, not paying any attention to his surroundings.

"Yeah, right, whatever." Tom sneered and moved a bit away.

The distance put between them helped Ayase breath again, and he hoped that Tom would be reasonable now and leave him be.

"You know, this is no way to treat the next leader of the black team." Tom added in a low voice after a while, and a smug smile spread slowly on his face. "I'll remember that."

Ayase gasped at him, blinking. "What did you say?"

"You've heard me." Tom stretched in his seat. "Tell that to Kanou, sweet little slut, I dare ya." He yawned and closed his eyes, sliding easily to sleep.

Ayase could not hope to go back to sleep after that statement, he was overwhelmed, and thoughts raced through his mind like runaway lunatics.

"Did you hear that, Marcus?" he tried after a while, gently shaking the old man's shoulder.

The man mumbled out something that made little sense, and there was this silence again.

After what seemed like forever, the wave leader opened his channel.

"Problem is solved; stand by to resume descent in one minute. Please check your filters for saturation and replace them if necessary. We'll arrive at the pit in forty five minutes. Wave leader out."

And a minute later, they were on their way again.

 

**oOOo**

 

After what happened with Tom, Ayase could not relax; his mind wrapped itself around what that he thought he had heard. Did he hear Tom correctly? He was not using his comm. and the man's voice was kind of muffled by his mask, but not muffled enough.

What did he mean he was going to be the next black leader? What was going on here? He must tell everything to Kanou as soon as he can, but would Kanou believe him? The last thing he needs is a false alarm to make him look even more pathetic and helpless than he actually was.

It was his word verses Tom's, would he even be taken seriously? Was this just a cruel joke? Maybe he should wait a while longer, to see if anything else happens, to ensure this was not just his imagination going haywire.

"The pit, five minutes, get ready." The wave leader interrupted his tormented thoughts.

Someone shoved an elbow at his ribs, Tom, obviously unfazed by Ayase's threat to tell Kanou if he'd ever touch him again.

"Here, look down at this ugly motherfucker…" Tom chuckled and leaned to the side.

Ayase frowned but did the same and viewed the landscape before him. There was a bulge, in the middle of the chasm, looked natural enough, although artificially smoothed, so a dome looking structure could be built up on it. The dome was not too large; maybe the size of a dormitory or two, back upstairs, and it looked like a huge chunk of rusty metal, sitting at the edge of a high, sheer drop.

The cables and the tracks ended there, and below it was an uncharted abyss, diving down further into the heart of the asteroid. The pit looked like a crude shelter, in shambles, rusty and patched, as if threatening to collapses at any given moment.

"Yup, home sweet home." Tom hummed in conclusion, and Ayase frowned.

The platform slowed its decent and landed on top of the previous ones at the end of the tracks, just in front of the small dome.

"Walk off the platform line by line, no pushing and no shoving! Don't forget anything you'd miss for the next two months on board. Wave leader over and out."

The men on board did not seemed bothered by the fact that the platform was stacked on top of the others creating a gap of almost three meters between them and the ground. The gravity was very weak here, even weaker than before, and when the first line jumped down along with their gear, they only slowly hovered and softly landed down, rising up a cloud of glittering dust as they touched ground.

Ayase found it was difficult to get up on his feet again; they felt like a stone, numb and cold, stinging with poor circulation, but he had to move, it was their line's turn to clear off.

"Marcus!" He shook the older man's shoulder.

The old man woke up as if from a nightmare, jolted and alert. "Are we there already?" he asked, getting up and stretching.

"Yes, I think so." Ayase said, viewing all the commotion around them, everyone around them was getting up, picking up their gear and jumping down, in all that mess he had lost sight of Tom and was grateful for it.

"Come on, let's get going." Marcus huffed and put on his gear.

Marcus was kind enough to give him his hand as they jumped, Ayase held his breath and closed his eyes, at his descent, it was the scariest thing he had done in a long time, and only after his feet touched ground again was he able to open his eyes and breathe again.

"Are you ok?" Marcus asked.

"Yes, I think so, thanks." Ayase answered, surveying their surroundings, there were tanks, carts, cables and pipes everywhere, and so little ground to maneuver between them, the dome was about one hounded meters away, their new home for the next two months, and it didn't look hospitable at all.

"Let's go." Marcus said and started walking.

Ayase hurried behind him, and he should have paid more attention to his body because every step he took nearly sent him flying in all directions, and suddenly he found himself bumping painfully into a wall of a huge tank. At the last second he managed to avert his face so he would not crush his mask on the solid surface, but the collision was painful just as well and ho so humiliating.

"Are you ok?" someone asked, he knew the voice, their Blue wave leader.

His head hurt, and he lost sight of Marcus as well, great, just great.

"Gravity is lower here than upstairs, because we are closer to the center of mass. You have to be more careful. Understood?"

Ayase blushed and nodded.

"Take gentle little steps." The former wave leader guided him, taking him by the hand, as if he was a child, and leading him towards the entrance the dome. "Nothing sudden or forceful, and if you lose control just grab for an anchor, ok? Steady…you're doing fine."

Ayase nodded at the man who led him through the narrow obstacle course to the front of a dome's gate.

"This is the airlock, wait for the door to close behind you, then the light will turn green and the inner door would open, so you could step inside and take off the mask."

"Thank you." He mumbled, blushing again, but the man has already left him, returning to the platform to help with the unloading.

Ayase did as he was told and entered the airlock with some few others that he did not know, along with the equipment that they were carrying. The airlock was small and dark, and everyone waited for the old screeching air pumps to work to turn the light green.

After what seemed like forever the lights changed and Ayase could not wait a second longer to remove his mask, his relief was short lived, the air inside was foul, cold and humid.

"Are you getting out or staying in?" Someone angrily asked him.

He noticed that the gear was all moved inside and the rest of the men were still masked and were watching him impatiently, expecting him to evacuate the chamber so they could decompress and get out again.

"Sorry." He whispered.

"Just move!" The man said, rudely shoving him inside, making him crash against the inner wall of the dome, stopping himself only with his right shoulder, knowing he'd pay for it later.

Inside was not much better, it was dark, cold, and people moved around him, and even bumped into him, looking pissed off, hurrying to complete one task after another, in an organized mayhem that he had no hope of understanding.

He roamed through the sea of men aimlessly until he found Zack at one of the corners. As much as he was relieved to see a friendly face, the man was busy taking measurements of electric currents that ran through the many cables attached to the wall.

"Hey." He greeted him.

"Hey." He answered without lifting up his eyes from his tablet or offering a smile.

"Can I help with something?" he asked after being ignored for a few minutes.

"Nope." Zack answered.

"Have you seen Kanou anywhere?"

"Nope." Zack answered again.

And so Ayase nodded and moved on.

Next, he found the Blue team leaders as they set up their computers and hooked them into the dome's systems, but where Zack at least acknowledge him, the twins treated him as if he was thin air, so he walked on.

Everywhere he went, he felt like a nuisance, as people ignored him, dismissed him or even growled at him. But at his aimless stroll he at least managed to familiarize himself a little with the pit. It had a few sections, the airlock, the main room that was filled with equipment, a smaller secondary room that was filled with piled up mattress and was probably a sleeping dorm, and there was also a second floor above the first, but it was narrow and had steel mesh flooring, and probably was build just to provide access to various applications at the roof. It was nothing much, but it was his home for the next two months, he'll have to make do just like everyone else.

As no one paid any attention to him, he found himself a corner to place his bag and sit down, and then he remembered the only task that was given to him, so he took out the tablet from his bag and turned it on.

It took him a few minutes to learn to operate it, but he found out he could remotely control the cameras that were placed in the Black and the Blue dormitories, to move them around and jump from one to another.

There was no one there, their beds and equipment were left untouched and there was no one from the Red, Orange or Yellow team snooping around. He checked everything twice and turned the tablet off, and as he placed it back in his bag, he heard a loud whistling sound and at the same time the main lights were turned on, instead of the emergency orange-colored soft lights, and they were casting a cruel bright white light all over the compound, exposing its ugliness and crudeness without mercy. The main lights exposed the pit for what it truly was; a huge chunk of iron cast, graceless, and smothering cage.

"Ok, the public address system is online." Someone said, one of the Kuba brothers. "Drop everything you do and gather in the main hall for a briefing, now."

Ayase looked around and saw that everyone obeyed that order, and stopped whatever they were into to huddle in the main space, Blue and Black mingling together, taking seats on their bags and awaiting for their briefing.

When he finally got the courage to join them he could only find place at the edge of the group. He found a seat next to two Blue team mates that he did not know, one was a huge dark skinned man, who was bald and full of scars, but he had a smiling face, so Ayase hoped he was not a total monster. The other one was a boy his age or a bit older, with dark blond hair, blue eyes, and delicate features, he was beautiful and probably a candy as well.

"Hello." He said to the other boy. "May I seat here?"

The other blonde glared at him, surprised by the fact that he was even approached; he gave Ayase a small nod. "Suit yourself." He replied with an apathetic, yet a soft voice.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Ayase." He ignored the boy's cold demeanor for the slightest hope to make a new friend. "What is yours?"

"Hey, sweet pea." Someone else spoke instead.

Tom again, settling himself next to Ayase, and he almost held his breath with a rush of panic, was the man stalking him? What a creep! He did not return the greeting and only lowered his head, trying his best to ignore the man.

In front of the group, on top of a small stage, someone took his position, holding a microphone in his hand, no mistaking the man's impressive build and self assured posture, and the halo of command that surrounded him.

He gazed upon his audience and everyone glared back at him, falling into a silent anticipation for him to make sense of the chaos that threatened to suffocate them all.

"Everyone hears me?" he asked with his deep, dominating voice. "Good, now shut the fuck up."

Kanou demanded attention and everyone obeyed, all small talks were halted, all voices silenced; all eyes fixed upon him, magnetized to his features.

He gave out a satisfied node and drew a deep breath before speaking.

"Welcome to downstairs." He began. "To those of you who do not know me, I am Kanou Somuku, the Black team's leader and the man in charge of this operation. This is my eleventh's trip down and the third at my command. I expect each one of you to follow my every order to the letter, or die trying. If you don't, I'll handle you personally, and then you'd wish you were dead."

A small shudder ran through the audience, as Kanou stated his threat with cold calm.

"Have you ever been to a lead type of system? A heavily industrialized system?" he asked all of a sudden, breaking into a new topic, and as no one replied, he continued. "Well, I have, and they are ugly as fuck. They have huge machines over there, robots as big as moons that are able to chew asteroids, even ones as big as 950A, and spit them out. They process their metals and minerals in a matter of days, not years, not months, not ever weeks, days."

They did not know what his point was, but they all listened, fascinated, Ayase even tried to imagine such a big giant machine that could break down 950A into shreds within days, it would probably be an intimidating sight to see, but he could not picture it in his mind.

"Some say that because there's cold here, it has to be harvested manually." Kanou continued and then snarled "That's bullshit." He posed and enjoyed the unease that his statement had provoked. "If only you could see the army of drones they have there for this kind of a job, they settle on the asteroids first, like a hive, strip it bare from any voluble minerals before that monster moon-robot breaks it down to bits and smelt it. Why am I telling you this?"

He posed again, smiling bitterly and waiting for anyone brave enough to engage him, which did not happen, so he continued.

"I'm telling you this so you'd know that there is just one purpose to our small mining operation here, and it is not extracting precious metals or cold or any other bullshit. The only aim of this facility is to kill us, mind, body and soul."

There was a small murmur in the crowd, of both acknowledgment and defiant.

"We were all placed here because the Union saw us fit to die in the worst way possible, forgotten and forsaken." Kanou concluded, not without a hint of sorrow.

He let his statement settle in the silence before he picked up his microphone again.

"Do we deserve it? Well… most of us do. Look at us, a pathetic collection of all sorts of scum- murderers, rapists, smugglers, anarchists… yeah, whatever… our lives worth shit, and we know it, but let me ask you this- Do you want to live?"

He paused again as if waiting for an answer, but there was no one to give him such, so he continued. "Or do you want to die? Because here we have two months to come up with the minimum amount of product, a gram shorter, and the only greeting we'll get back upstairs will be the automatic machine guns that would open fire and kill us all where we stand. So I ask you again- do you want to live or die?"

People in the room lowered their gaze and ground their teeth with unease, but said nothing.

"I want to live. I have my reasons, which I won't share right now, but I sure do wish to go on breathing. But I cannot do this alone, not here, because downstairs is a group effort, we'll pull it off together or die together, no way of hustling it... Now, upstairs I don't give a damn if you cheat; rape or kill each other, but down here, if you're not pulling your weight, you have a problem with me. If you're lagging behind, if you're slacking, if you act up or get smart you may get us all killed, and I have zero tolerance for that."

Kanou stopped again and ran his gaze through the audience, his dark eyes meeting each and every one of the men, giving each a stern glare, boring into their soul.

"As I said, this is my third trip down here as the commander, and I have developed a system that will get us all back upstairs with minimum casualties, and it works, so you're gonna get your orders, and you're going to deliver and be good, discipline and efficient. This operation is going to work like a well oiled, asteroid smelting machine, so you could all get back upstairs again, to do whatever the fuck you want up there. But until then, I own your fucking asses."

Kanou waited for someone to challenge him. Ayase glanced at Tom, thinking that maybe he'll have something smart to say, but the man just smiled his creepy smile and said nothing, just kept his challenging glare fixed upon Kanou as he smirked.

"Good, now that we are on the same page, we can get started. The Blue team leaders- Misao and Homare will pass between you and assign you to your shifts and duties, and I'll be debriefing each group personally later on today. The working schedule would be posted at the main hall by the end of this shift. Good luck to us all. Dismissed."

As people started to rise up again and move onto their tasks, Ayase lingered a bit, wondering. He noticed what just had happened here, nothing short of a miracle, Kanou had managed to transform chaos into order, hopelessness into a sense of determination, panic into calm, what an extraordinary set of skills needed to do so? So rare, natural, and impossible to fake.

But something in Kanou's eyes… Ayase noted, maybe was the only one to notice, his eyes seemed weary, worried? He had managed to conceal it well enough, it did not show on his body, but he could not keep it off his eyes, not from Ayase, at least, and it had the boy worried.

A hand landed on his shoulder, Marcus.

"Where have you been?" the old man asked. "Come on, we've got to set up the infirmary."

"Yes, sir." Ayase got up and tried to clear up his mind so he could be useful for once.

* * *


	13. Tension testing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Must be the reason why I'm king of my castle  
> Must be the reason why I'm freeing my trapped soul  
> Must be the reason why I'm king of my castle  
> Must be a reason why I'm making examples of you"
> 
> King of My Castle-Wamdue Project

Kanou stepped down from the improvised podium satisfied that his message got through, the group had to work together in order to survive this, and he was going to make sure that they do, he was in charge of this operation and the lives of two hundred people were now his direct responsibility. The weight of it pressed down on his shoulders, adding some extra gravity force to ground him better, but it also felt lonely and isolating and he was already weary with concern.

As soon as he was down, his men approached him, almost pouncing on him, all looking for his guidance and instructions, and most were unable to hide the anxiety in their eyes, yes, downstairs was a bitch.

Seven men started talking to him at once- Zack, Misao, Homare and a few more, but he spotted Hall in the group and snatched him from the crowd, pulled the man aside, and gave the rest of them a cold glare to suggest they should take a step back and give them some breathing space.

"Is your team ready?" he asked in a low voice as soon as they were a bit away.

"Yes, sure." The young man smiled nervously. "What is it?"

"Suit up and take a look outside; check everything within the perimeter- life supporting systems, the storage tanks, the sensors array, the tracks, everything… it might take you a full shift so gear up accordingly."

"Why the rush, sir?" Hall asked, worried.

Kanou did not mind the question, he knew Hall well enough not to suspect him as a slacker, and he did deserved an answer, but before Kanou could supply it, he glanced around to make sure they were safe from eavesdropping, and even then he pulled Hall closer just in case.

"The tracks on our way down." Kanou reminded him with a whisper "Where we stopped for repairs? This was no ordinary malfunction, Hall; someone had worked really hard to create that kind of damage."

Hall went a little pale while hearing this. "What are you saying? Sabotage?" he asked in a low voice and looked around to make sure no one had heard him.

"Probably." Kanou agreed reluctantly.

"Sabotaging a facility is the best way to get into the white team. Why would anyone do such a thing?"

"It's only sabotage if you get caught." Kanou reminded him with a weary smirk.

"Who could have done this?" Hall murmured "The Greens and Browns where lasts ones here, when the ventilation system crushed; do you think they have anything to do with it?"

"Too soon to tell…" Kanou answered "Look, just do it, ok? Take your team and have a thorough peripheral check. We'll know better when you're done. And… keep it on the hush, alright? Until we learn some more."

"Sure." Hall nodded vigorously, spreading panic downstairs was the easiest thing to do.

"And Hall, get the team to eat something first, as I said, it could take you the whole shift."

"Yes, daddy." The younger man smiled.

Kanou glanced back at the crowd he had left, and the men were getting impatient, so he gave Hall a friendly pat on his shoulder. "Go, before Zack gets the wrong idea."

Hall blushed and smiled again then he left and Kanou returned to the awaiting men.

"The electric currant is fluctuating, sir." Said Zack who got to him first, and shoved a tablet into his hands, much to the disappointment of the Kuba brothers, which failed to beat him to it.

Kanou studied the data with a frown and return Zack the tablet. "Any idea why?"

"Might be the UPS system, but I have to check it on the outside."

"I've already sent Hall and his team out; let him know about this before he leaves. I want you to take your guys and run the perimeter from the inside, watch out for air leaks, it's a priority. Use the new smoke kits that we bought, and take only the Argon welding machine."

"Yes, sir." Zack nodded and off he went.

Now the Kuba brothers approached him again.

"We need to talk." One twin said.

"Plan B, you promised." The other continued and both looked at him with an urging gaze.

Kanou almost cursed under his breath, those two impatient imbeciles. "Have you finished assigning the men to their chores?"

The twins exchanged an unnerved glance with each other. "No, not yet, but…" Said one.

"No buts!" Kanou nearly screamed at them. "Get it done! Establish a contact with the tip; I want to know when the platforms arrive back up to make sure that our patch still holds. And get a team to cook some food and another team to check our gear to make sure it all arrived safely, and get another team to clean this place up, especially the air filters, smells like old socks around here! Understood?"

"Yes, sir." They answered in union, like children who just got scolded.

"Good! Don't come back until you're finished!" he growled and turned his angered gaze at his next victim. "No, not now, Tom!" he said before the man could open his mouth. "Where is Marcus?" he asked and another man pointed a finger to some direction.

Kanou nodded a thank you and strode fast in that direction; trying to lose the crowd but still he was followed by others who wanted his attention, so he just ignored them.

He reached an area of the dome, near a wall, where a strange view revealed itself.

There was a group of men, both from the blue and the black team, working there in quiet efficiency. Some were busy installing a row of shelves, others were assembling two medical cots, and others were carrying boxes into the area. At the center of the operation stood no other than Ayase, his beautiful, petit candy, he was managing the group, giving orders and directions in a soft voice.

"Hey, watch it!" he said as two men dropped a cart without a care. "There's morphine there! You'd be missing it if you get injured!" he berated the pair with a sweet pout.

"Sorry." One said, and sniffled while the other lowered his head.

"Put it down," He nodded, still pouting "And go get the rest of it, and be more careful!"

"Yes sir." One mumbled and they were on their way.

Ayase approached the cart and opened it to assess the damage, when Kanou got to him.

"Hey." He said to the boy, smiling softly.

"Hey." Ayase answered, blushing.

"Setting up the infirmary, I see?"

"Yes, sir." Ayase said, gazing at his feet.

"I thought it was Marcus job."

"He's unwell." Ayase mumbled, concern clouded his clear blue eyes, as they searched the area and then he pointed to the man, bundled against the cold wall, looking like a ball of utter misery.

Kanou frowned at the sight, and moved to talk to the old man; fortunately, his stalkers gave him some space and waited at a few feet's distance from the infirmary.

He hunched next to the old man, placing his hand on fondly on the man's bony knee.

"How are you feeling, Marcus?" he asked, tenderness filled his low voice.

"Like shit, sir." The man answered, and he was struggling with his breath. "I'm sorry."

"No worries." Kanou smiled and patted the knee underneath his hand, feeling how skinny it was. "It is probably just a panic attack, like before." He whispered to the man's ear. "It will pass."

"This ain't no panic attack." Marcus resented the accusation passionately. "It's my heart acting up again."

"Your heart? But you have your pills, right?"

"Sure, but it's a progressing condition, there's only so much they can do... I think this might be my last trip downstairs, youngster." Marcus tried a smile, but could not keep it for long; he had to concentrate on his breathing.

Kanou sighed and sent his hand to the unruly mop of white hair to brush it briefly. "Don't be so over dramatic."

"Why not? Twenty six times down this shit hole, more than enough, I'm allowed to be dramatic, don't you think? " Marcus smiled and then started coughing.

"I can't stay." Kanou said after a long pause, waiting for the man to recover. "But I'll talk to the Blue leaders; I think they have a paramedic in their team. I'll have him stop by and check up on you. Just rest now, don't you worry about a thing. I'll see you later."

Marcus nodded and sent his own hand to cover Kanou's broad bicep. "I'll be fine, you go; must have better things to do than hold my hand."

"I'll always find time to hold your hand." Kanou promised, smiling, but the old man was right, he had plenty to do. So he let go, straightened up and stretched, eyeing the men that were watching him and waiting for his attention.

"Ayase." He turned back to his beautiful candy.

"Kanou-san?"

"I see that you have everything under control, good job."

"Thank you." Ayase blushed again. "They all came to help Marcus actually, I just told them what to do."

"Good job, none the less. Did you get a chance to check on our dormitories?"

"I did, so far everything is alright."

"Good, keep an eye on things."

"I will, sir."

Among the others, Tom was awaiting too, lurking nearby like a dark shadow with a mocking smile on his face, and his tattooed arms folded across his chest.

"Is now a good time for you?" he asked Kanou as soon as he left Ayase's side.

Kanou gave him a reluctant glare and was about to say something when some new people arrived, searching for him.

"Kanou, sir!" it was someone from the blue team who interrupted them. "Please, come with me, there's something you need to see."

"Sure." Kanou nodded and threw a last worried glance over Marcus and Ayase, then let the man lead him away.

**oOOo**

 

Tom lingered next to Ayase even though Kanou and his entourage had left; his smile lingered too, revealing his silver teeth under his thin pale lips.

"Need any help, sweetie?" he asked as Ayase turned to removed a cracked bottle of morphine from the damaged cart and was looking for an empty bottle to transfer it to.

"I got all the help I need, thank you." The blonde answered, hoping the man will go away.

But Tom was like a shark smelling blood and he would not back down, he just stood there and glared as Ayase poured the liquid into an empty plastic bottle, trying his best not to cringe under his scrutiny.

After a few awkward moments, Tom decided to approach and knelt down next to him. "Have you told Kanou yet?" he asked in a whisper, like sharing a sweet secret.

"Told him what?" Ayase decided to play dumb.

"Our little secret?"

Ayase recoiled from him, the man smelled like too much cheap cologne. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Tom stopped glaring and just laughed now, like a hyena, with sharp, high pitched noises. "Oh god, you're killing me! I love it!"

"I'd like to get back to work now." Ayase insisted, hiding his fear behind a calm face and awaited Tom to stop laughing like a crazy person.

"You're amazing, sweet pea!" Tom concluded, with a lusty moan "I wish I could have you, like… really have you, but you belong to Elrick; it was part of the deal. You should get ready, though, you know, Elrick's bigger than Kanou, like- this big…" he gestured with his hands and Ayase could not help it but wince with disgust, which only made Tom chuckle a bit more as he got up and left.

Good riddance, Ayase huffed as the repulsive man left but he had too little time to celebrate as someone else approached, and he was that huge, dark skinned man from the blue team.

The man was as thick as he was tall, moving heavily like a brick wall, dragging his feet as if they belonged to someone else and then he stopped and gave him a hollow glare.

Ayase swallowed his fear and studied him carefully, trying to keep calm at this close proximity. Who was he? What did he want? Why did he have a dent in his skull like some part of his head was missing?

"Seat, Juju." Came a commanding voice, followed by the boy from the blue team, the blonde that Ayase had already seen before.

The huge man collapsed to the floor where he was standing like a sack of rocks, and the boy came forward to pet his shiny bald head, a bitter smile on his face.

Ayase could not hide his relief or his confusion over this strange situation, but he could not find anything to say.

"Sorry about it." The blonde said to Ayase "It takes some getting used to, but he can't help himself. He's harmless, really."

"What's wrong with him?" Ayase whispered, too embarrassed to glare at the man missing half of his left side head.

"A mining accident, here downstairs, almost four years ago, not much left of him since, isn't it so, Juju?"

The hulk named Juju just smiled softly at the mention of his name and gazed at the both of them without making a sound. The blonde boy from the blue team was also gazing at Ayase, to a point it became uncomfortable.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Ayase asked the boy "I really should get back to work."

"Iodine." The boy answered "And a plaster too. Juju hurt his hand moving heavy equipment, cut it on a jagged edge"

Juju nodded, lifting his hand and showing his bleeding wound.

Ayase nodded. "Come with me."

He led them both to the part of the infirmary that was already established where he had no trouble finding a first aid kit. He cleaned the wound with some alcohol and examined the cut, which was thankfully shallow and needed only bandaging.

The blonde boy watched him carefully while he worked and as he finished, Juju studied his bandaged hand, waved it around and offered Ayase a big smile.

"Thank you." The blonde said "This place is so dirty even a small wound could become a nasty problem if it's not taken care of, you cannot be too careful."

"You welcome, I didn't get your name." Ayase said and the blonde only shrugged. "My name is Ayase."

"I know, Kanou's candy."

"And you are?"

"Why?"

"Why not?" Ayase blushed but insisted.

"If you must call me something, you can call me Candy."

"Candy?" Ayase mumbled with confusion "Whose candy?"

"Everyone's." the blonde answered casually. "Come on, Juju, we have more work to do."

Juju threw one last glance at Ayase and then followed the blue candy and the pair left the infirmary's area.

Ayase watched them until they were out of his sight, wondering about them both, and even feeling a bit concerned, for some reason unknown.

"Hey, Ayase!" Someone spoke, removing him from his thoughts. "Where does this go?"

"Carful!" he yelped at the man who was juggling two bottles of chloroform with his bare hands. "This stuff is highly concentrated; do you want to get poisoned?"

 

**oOOo**

 

"Is now a good time, Kanou?" Tom asked as Kanou finished debriefing the last mining team and sent them to their dinner.

It was late into the second shift, he had no chance to stop the whole day, and wherever he went, Tom followed, like he had nothing better to do, persisting prick.

Kanou suppressed his wish to sigh, as Tom demanded his attention again, but then the airlock opened to let Hall's team back in, the young man and his mates looked weary and worried and Hall searched for Kanou and after finding his gaze, he started walking towards them.

"I'm sorry, but I have to finish things with Hall first, he just came back from outside and I want to get his report."

"No, sir, now is my turn!" Tom insisted "I think I've waited long enough to get your attention and I won't have another rejection, so we solve this now!"

"Tom, I understand that you're fed up, chasing me all day, and I promise you my full attention in a few more minutes but I really have to talk to Hall first."

"Fuck this shit!" Tom almost shouted "We settle this now, or we are going to have a problem! Do you want to have a problem on the first day down?"

Kanou caught Hall's gaze again from afar and gave him a subtle nod to make him pose for a moment, then he looked at Tom and realized that the man was furious, and so were his six friends that gathered nearby and glared daggers at him.

He was almost falling off his feet, he was starving and dying for a smoke, he still had million things to do and no, he was not having a problem on the first day down.

"O.k., fine, here I am, Tom, talk."

Tom smiled his silvery smile now, victorious. "I'm not happy with my assignment, sir."he stated with no shame.

Kanou needed all of his self control not to lash out immediately at this. What the fuck was this about? Did Tom just stall him to bitch about his placement? Where did he think he was? Kindergarten?

Kanou breathed, exercising his patience. "What is wrong with your assignment?"

"I got a fucking mining duty! Again!" Tom said with anger. "Three years in a row!"

"And so did eighty five percent of the crew, man."

"But not your candy boy, Ayase! It's his first time around and he got to be on the skeleton crew! Nicely tucked inside the pit! This is fifty ways of wrong!"

"Come on, Tom, you and I both know that Ayase cannot go mining. He'd get himself and his whole team killed if I send him out."

"But Zack won't, and he did not get the mining duty either!"

"That's correct." Kanou confirmed " Only he got a much more dangerous job; with me on the path- finding team."

"The Path fining team!" Tom snarled. "The team that gets to seat on its ass all day long where no one can see them, pretending to search for new routes? Nice one! Good for you, and for Zack!"

"Fuck you Tom, you know this ain't so."

"Yeah? Well… Prove it!"

"I have nothing to prove to you!"

"And why Hall is on the maintenance team? Huh? Because he sucks your deputy's dick?"

"He's on the maintenance team because I have a system that works! And I put him there! So suck it up, and get the hell out of my face!"

"You have a system alright! A System that works for you!" Tom shouted, pointing his finger and throwing glances around, eyeing the crowd and his friends that backed him up by nodding. "It works for you and your best buddies, and you don't give a fuck about the rest of us, do you?"

Kanou bit hard on his lips, noticing too, that many had gathered to witness this little showdown; and this useless display was really the last thing he or any of them needed.

"What do you want, Tom?" Kanou almost sighed again, he was sick and tired of this childish conversation, and he needed to talk to Hall, find the Kuba brothers and maybe grab something to eat, if there's anything left when he finishes up for today.

"I want my team on the maintenance duty, and Hall's team on the mining! I busted my leg last time downstairs, and everybody knows I'm the best electrician on the black team! It is only fair!"

"Maintenance duty is more than just handling the electric system."

"I get the maintenance duty with my pals here, or we are going to have a problem with the mining production, sir, will you risk it?" Tom hissed with a smug leer.

There was a surprise mumble through the crowd, they could not believe someone was brave or stupid enough to let those kinds of threats get tossed into the air.

Kanou could not believe his ears either, was the man suicidal? No one can fuck with the mining production or they'd all wind up dead.

"Can't help it, busted leg and everything…" Tom finished, smiling at Kanou's rage.

"You are walking a thin line here, Tom, careful now, you might fall."

"It would be your fault alone, sir, sending an injured man to a mining duty, risking production, who knows what kind of accidents might happen…" Tom answered and they both fell into a staring duel, which Kanou was the first to blink out of.

Fuck this shit, the man was crazy, but he'd have them all killed.

"Come on, Kanou." Tom taunted him, seeking approval from their audiences "Show me that your system works for everyone, not only for your favorites."

The crowed mumbled again, agreeing with Tom, it seemed, well, who would not back up the underdog? Even a one stricken with rabies.

Kanou knew he needed to back down; he didn't want to start the first day downstairs with bloodshed and the bastard knew it.

"You can have Hall's Maintenance duty." Kanou announced.

"Thank you, sir, for your time." Tom answered, bowing slightly towards the crowd with a jest, only to find himself seconds later, yanked by the collar, off his feet and slightly suffocated, to meet Kanou's burning gaze from a much closer distance.

"Listen, punk…" Kanou hissed at him as he wobbled in the air, searching for a footing. "You've been nothing but bad news ever since the day I met you! You only live today because I never bothered finishing such a small fry, my bad."

"K… Ka… Kanou, put me down, man…" Tom said, struggling for a breath.

"But you are right, we do have a problem." Kanou continued "I just prefer to solve it upstairs, and it will be solved, this I promise."

"We have no problem!" Tom squawked, wiggling like a worm on a hook.

"Fuck up the production, though, and we'll finish it here."

Kanou threw Tom down, slamming him into the dirty floor, and then watched as he struggled to breathe again and get back on his feet.

"I'll tell Hall about the switch." Kanou finished and shoved his way out through the circle of the crowd, without bothering to look back.

Tom dusted himself up, smiling, and while most of the people left, since the show was over, his mates have stayed and approached to congratulate him, giving him words of praise and pats on his shoulder.

"Way to go, Tom."

"You have balls of steel, man."

"Yeah, you showed that motherfucker!"

Tom smiled back at his men.

"Just digging the grave." He mumbled under his breath.

 

**oOOo**

 

Ayase could not sleep. Not for the lack of fatigue, if exhaustion alone could send him there, he'd be deep in dreamland by now, but he could not even close his eyes, just blink up to the ceiling and watch the few soft orange lights as they flickered and sent shadows dancing on the walls.

Downstairs was nothing like he had imagined it to be, even if he did not have a clear vision of it, he never thought it would be a much more cramped, uglier, dirtier version of the upstairs. And it was so quiet, too quiet, even though about two hounded men slept in bedrolls around him, snoring and mumbling, it was so very still.

No robots on their rails, no automated announcements, no people from other groups passing by the halls laughing, no noise from machines, nothing. They were on their own; in the belly of the asteroid, and it was so strange, maybe this was the thing disturbing his sleep.

Or the cold, maybe it was the cold.

It was so cold, even with the body heat of two hounded men huddled so closely together like sardines in a can. He was wearing his full thermal suit, and was under two blankets and Kanou was heavy on top of him, but still, every piece of skin that was not under some sort of protection felt like ice. His nose was numb, and his chin was freezing, his cheeks were so cold to a point they actually felt feverish.

But it wasn't the cold.

Maybe it was Tom, and the things he said, and the things he planned on doing, which were no good. Was there anything he could do to stop it? What could he do? He was just a candy; he was the lowest of the low. But if he does nothing, Kanou might be in danger, and he actually worried for the man. Whatever they had between them, they at least had a deal, and Kanou kept his end of it, he was a man true to his word, something rare, not only in 950-A, but also outside, in the real world.

The man was not all powerful, here in his arms, asleep, he was as vulnerable as they came, and he could get hurt, he could get killed if Tom and Elrick have their way, and Ayase cringed to the thought of it, and hugged Kanou with some more force, the poor man had worked so hard today, and when he joined Ayase in the bedroll he was asleep as soon as his head touched the mattress and Ayase wished that he could do something to ease that load, but he was just a useless, powerless candy, with no means to do anything.

Something.

He could check the dormitories again, if he's already up. Do something useful, do his duty. That was an idea, maybe if he do this, he'd be able to rest easier, and maybe his unrest would finally be driven away. Yes, that's a good idea.

He struggled to fish out his bag from above his head and under Homare's feet, and his hands trembled with cold as he searched for his tablet, fetched it and turned it on.

The familiar view of their dormitory greeted him, looking almost peaceful, making him miss his bed all over again. Upstairs they were sleeping too; they had synchronized the time to match the rest of 950-A so it would be easier when they come back up.

There was no one was in their sleeping halls, and no one was in their showers, and no one in… wait… someone was passing by a corridor, gliding slowly in the empty space near the bars, someone he saw before, all dressed in white.

What the hell?

Ayase chased him from one camera to the next, trying to keep up, find out more- who was he? What did he do? How come he was he dressed in white? why could he not get a clear view?

And then the figure noticed a move of a camera and turned around, , he smiled, looking straight into Ayase's eyes, then he placed a finger to his lips in a hushing gesture and the image on the screen turned into snow.

Ayase dropped the tablet on the blanket. He could hear the echo of a scream bouncing off the walls. It was his own.

**oOOo**


	14. The Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "...Roads are getting nearer  
> we cover distance but not together  
> I am the storm and I am the wonder  
> and the flashlights, nightmares  
> and sudden explosions…"
> 
> What Else Is There?- Royksopp

"Are you sure?" Homare asked, his grey eyes bored deeply into Ayase's blues.

"Because the feed is in black and white, you know" Misao reminded him.

"Might as well be someone from the yellow team."

"I am sure!" Ayase insisted, again, frustrated. "And I think I know white from yellow. That man was wearing pure white."

The brothers exchanged a worried gaze and Homare shook his head.

"So, basically you're saying that you just saw a spook?" Misao could not help but chuckle with unease.

"Yes, no… maybe?" Ayase breathed and wished that for once, just once, someone in this god forsaken place would take him seriously.

They all treated him like he was a child, a frightened, helpless little baby, but if those smug Blue leaders saw what he had seen last night, they would be just as horrified, and would not waste time exchanging those all-knowing glares and asking all those stupid questions. As if he hadn't notice.

"Kanou to Homare, what's your situation?" Kanou's deep voice suddenly roared through Homare's communicator and interrupted their conversation.

Kanou was already out of the pit, at the mining site, has been there since even before Ayase woke up, most of the mining teams were already out there with him, and he was helping them settle into their routine.

Homare lost his amused smile and pressed the comm to reply. "We are awaiting Hassan's confirmation of reestablishing control."

"Understood." Kanou replied after breathing out his impatient. "I need you out here. Site fourteen is completely dried up so we have to relocate three teams furthered down, about two hundred meters deeper, and the paths to sites two and eight are in a bad shape, we have to reconstruct them before someone gets killed. I don’t want to open a lag so soon. I need you out here."

"Acknowledged." Homare said while Misao turned to contacting Hassan at the Tip.

"Can you give me an ETA?" Kanou pressed on.

"Hassan can you hear me?" Misao tried at his communicator again. "Hassan?"

"Yes, yes sir, I can hear you." Misao's comm. picked up Hassan's transmission from the Tip.

"What's your statue?" Misao asked.

"Fine, we are all fine now, thank you." Hassan answered "We got the computer back up, and the communications, we have gained control on the oxygen and power supply cables and the platforms are operating again."

"Great, that's good news." Misao nodded towards his brother and they both seemed relieved.

"What caused it? Do you know already, by any chance?" Hassan asked.

"Someone had hacked the system, took you down." Homare leaned into his brother's arm and spoke into his comm. "We chased him out and fixed the damage."

"I thought you were the best hackers on 950A." Kanou noted with unhidden sarcasm.

"We are the best, but not the only, sir." Homare answered calmly.

"This is very troubling news." Hassan murmured from his end.

"We want to try and track that hacker down." Homare suggested. "Would take us a few hours, but I think it's worth the time, we should find out who's behind this and what's his next move might be."

"Negative, I need you outside." Kanou rejected the idea bluntly and then corrected himself "Maybe later, in a few days time, but we cannot open a lag at this point."

"On our way." Homare accepted Kanou's orders without further fuss. "Homare's out."

"Hassan, we have to go." Misao said to his comm. "But if anything else pops out, let me know, ok?"

"Sure thing, thank you very much, guys, Hassan's out."

After finishing their conversations, both twins started packing their gear, and while doing so they noticed Ayase again, the boy looked at them in silence, disappointment in his blue eyes.

They had no time for him; no one has ever had time for him.

"I wish you had recorded it, would have helped." Homare sighed "Pressing on that small red button, you know?"

Ayase blushed, he should have done it alright, but his mind was too hazed with sleep deprivation, and the panic ruined whatever was left of his logic.

"I'll do it next time."

"If there is a next time, which we hope, will not" Homare smirked and then breathed out. "Look, chances are someone is only trying to mess with us, play a prank, stir up some shit …"

"Which is the easiest thing to do down here." Misao noted dryly.

"So very easy." His twin agreed.

"Easy peasy." Misao concluded.

"I don't know." Ayase admitted with a low voice. "Why would they?"

"Why not?" Homare nearly snorted. "There are some fucked-up sadistic fuckers in 950A, if you hadn't notice yet."

But he did.

And still he didn't buy it.

If someone was just hoaxing them, just messing up with them, how did he get his hands on a white uniform? And who was he working for? What was he hoping to achieve? And why did he sign for Ayase to keep it on the low? Sending his finger to his mouth in a hushing gesture?

"Are we done here?" Misao asked, loading his bag on his back, it wasn't clear if he was talking to Ayase or to his brother.

"Yeah, we're good to go." Homare nodded and turned to look at Ayase again. "I'm sorry but we have to leave. Remember to record it, if it happens again."

"Would be helpful." Misao agreed.

"Sure I will." Ayase mumbled, chills ran down his spine, he was not looking forward to the next encounter.

"And keep it between us, ok?" Homare added "Kanou has enough on his mind already."

"More than enough." Misao agreed.

"Too much." Homare nodded. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out, and when we know better, we'd report to him ourselves." he assured Ayase with a smile reserved for kids or crazy people or both.

Then the Kuba brothers finished picking up their gear and left him, Homare ruffled his hair fondly while passing by.

They walked towards the airlock where Ayase could not follow, so he watched them as they disappeared into darkness, fighting his best to stay calm, not lose his fragile self control again, and start crying out of sheer frustration. 

On his first day in, he remembered, the Kuba brothers told him that Kanou knew why he was send into 950A, which only meant that they knew something of it too. Will he ever get to know why was he stuck here in this dark, cold hell hole?

What had he done to deserve it? He has never done anything to deserve this!

But the Kuba brothers never bothered sharing that information with him, and he was not brave enough to bring it up, and now there was no time for this, and nobody even cared.

Why the fuck should anyone care about a stupid candy anyway?

A moment before he let himself wallow again in self pity, he remembered that he wanted to check up on Marcus.

 

oOOo

 

If anyone had a more miserable night that him, it was probably Marcus. The poor old man's health was deteriorating with every passing hour, and down here there was not even a decent medical ward where they could treat him. They ended up hooking him to an Oxygen balloon to help him sleep, but Ayase imagined that there was not much sleeping for Marcus last night.

On his way to the infirmary, he bumped into Hall's team as they made final preparations to leave for their mining site, they were the last mining team still in, and none of the men looked very happy, Hall the least. Ayase remembered that Kanou took them off maintenance duty because Tom had managed to put some pressure on him, it was the big show of yesterday, so he was told, he didn't get to see this while it was happening but gossip traveled faster than light at 950A.

"Hey Bailey baby …" Some greeted Hall before Ayase got the chance to do the same; it was a tease more than a greeting, a menacing taunt.

 Of course it had to be Tom.

Hall looked up from his open backpack and frowned at the man. "The name is Hall, Tom." he reminded the other.

"Oh, but you'll always be baby Bailey to me…" Tom insisted, smiling.

Hall gave him a cold glare, but the man did not back down. "What do you want?" he finally muttered.

"From you?" Tom ogled him innocently "Nothing sweetie, already got what I wanted from Kanou, thank you very much."

Hall made a ghastly impression of a smile. "So you came here to gloat? Is that it? So very immature."

"No, not to gloat… well, a bit, maybe." Tom answered and sat down on a nearby barrel so he could watch Hall carefully with more comfort. "I got what I wanted from Kanou, alright, but so did you, Hall."

Hall stopped his efforts of packing while ignoring Tom, and raised his eyes to him, narrow with suspicion. "What do you mean?"

Tom nodded and crossed his Tattooed arms on his chest. "Well… we all need to know where we stand from time to time, no? Know our place? It's a healthy thing to do, don't you think? You shouldn't go all top dog on someone if you're the doormat, not a good idea, you get my saying?"

"Not really, I don’t." Hall finished packing and started fastening the laces of his bag; he worked as fast as he could so he could get out of there.

"Yes, you do." Tom corrected him. "And now, thanks to me, you know where you stand with Kanou and Zack. You know that they don't give a damn about you. Means that you can stop letting Zack fuck your hole, yeah? Because you get jack shit out of it. You're welcome."

Someone giggled and Hall averted his gaze, taking the blow and trying hard not to let it show, he breathed in like someone who just got sucker punched.

Ayase clenched his fists, wanting so hard to smack Tom's smug face, but what punching him would do? It would only make things worse, would only make Hall look even weaker, if he needed a candy to defend his honor.

While Hall was recovering, Tom looked around and scrutinized Hall's team with a mocking glare. "You all should think about your next move, guys." He told them, mimicking a worried tone. "You've all placed your bet on a losing horse, thinking it will get you a maintenance duty, huh? but you got mining instead."

"Why are you doing this?" one of the men asked wearily, an older man, with his best years behind him. "Why all those fucking games, Tom? Why now? Why downstairs? Can't we just get this shift done without your usual bullshit?"

Tom only shrugged, ignoring the man.

"Use this opportunity to grow some balls, Bailey baby." He said, returning his gaze to Hall. "Do this mining duty like a man, get yourself free from Zack, if you even meant anything to him, he would have backed you up against Kanou, but he didn't, so it is good to know, right? That you'll always be at the bottom of their priority… yeah? Grow up, be the man, fuck a candy, hey, fuck Candy, he'll let anyone fuck him for credit…"

"Stop talking, Tom." Hall mumbled, still crouched on the ground, but it looked like he was going to pounce at any moment.

"Fuck him before Zack does."

"Shut the fuck up!"

"He's such a pretty little thing…and Zack's already looking. Why won’t you use your dick for once, huh? Still remember how to, right?"

"Fuck you, Tom!"

"Me? Thanks, but no thanks."

"Get the fuck off my face, or…!"

"Or what, Bailey baby? You ain't liking what you're hearing? It's called the truth… and you know what else is truth? You're getting old, that's the truth, and Zack's gonna find himself a fresh new thing sooner than later, and where would that put you, honey, huh? Time is not your friend…"

He didn't get to finish his last sentence, because Hall jumped him, and before too long they were squabbling on the ground, exchanging blows.

Ayase glared at them horrified, he never saw Hall this wild and desperate before, and Tom was putting up a good fight too, unlike against Kanou, here he had a slight advantage over Hall, and they were tearing each other apart.

"Cut it out!" He found himself screaming, because no one else seemed keen on putting an end to it, they all stood around and watched the fight with jaded glares, "Somebody, please stop them!" he begged again, tears started flowing down his eyes.

After a few moments, Hall's team mates looked up as if woken from a dream and suddenly remembered they had legs and arms, four of them hurried to Tom and Hall, separating them by force, and one came to calm Ayase down.

"Kanou's boy is right." the older man said after checking up on him. "We got no time for this bullshit. Not here! Not downstairs!"

The men dragged Tom and Hall away from each other, and while Tom accepted this, Hall struggled to get free from his captors and return to the fight.

Tom viewed those efforts with a widely smile on his bleeding lips, he also had an ugly cut on his forehead and his nose was busted, blood ran down his face, painting his silver teeth red and dripping down his chin. "Truth hurts, doesn't it, Hall?"

"You got my name right." Hall answered, calming down slowly in the arms of his team mates, he looked just as blooded as Tom, with gushing cuts on his cheeks and eyebrows.

"You both must come with me to the infirmary." Ayase decided, his voice trembled, but his mind was determinate.

"What? I'll pass, we're late." Hall said without even looking his way, someone offered him a towel to press on his cut eyebrow to stop the bleeding. "Come on, let's go." He ordered his team and made the effort to stand up and pick up his equipment again.

"Hey, I'll come with you, sweet pea." Tom smirked at Ayase, making him almost regret his offer.

Hall staggered towards the airlock, along with his team and Ayase realized he was left alone with Tom again, to his disappointment.

"Come…" he mumbled and walked the short distance to the infirmary, trying his best to ignore the man that followed. Nothing was too far away, downstairs; it was a blessing and a curse just the same.

In his station, he found his equipment easily and used some gauze pads dripping with alcohol to clean Tom's face.

"That cut needs stitching." He pointed at a deep gash on Tom's forehead and went looking for his stitching kit.

When he came back, Tom eyes him with suspicious. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, kid?"

"Marcus taught me." Ayase said and Tom flinched as he leaned close by. "Don’t worry." Ayase assured him. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"That's reassuring, hey; can I get some codeine when we're done?" Tom asked hopefully.

"I'm not wasting codeine on you. You can have Paracetamol if you must." Ayase said, driving the needle though the skin as gently as he could, bringing the two ripped edges together as neatly as he could, and stitch them together to the best of his ability.  

"You're a cold bitch, you know that?"

 "And you're vile." Ayase could not help but say, what would Tom do? Beat him up as well?

"Am I vile?" Tom mimicked a hurt voice so very successfully, that Ayase almost believed him. "Am I vile?" he asked again as Ayase finished and took off his gloves. "You're hurting my feelings, sweet pea."

Ayase packed his kit and searched the draws for some Paracetamol. "Here." he shoved two white little pills into Tom's hand. "You can go now."

"Can I have a glass of water?" Tom asked. "Please?" he added as Ayase blinked at him.

Ayase said nothing but found the water jar on the other table and poured some water into a plastic cup.

"Thank you, sweetie." Tom smiled and swallowed the pills with his drink. "I'm not vile." He said when finished.

"So why are you trying to take Kanou down?" Ayase's question came out as a whisper.

"That?" Tom almost laughed at the accusation. "Kings arise and fall all the time, darling, that's the nature of 950A. Kanou had his run, a good run, but still…now I think is my turn. That doesn't make me vile."

"But you are." Ayase insisted, making Tom giggle some more.

"You have a funny way of looking at things, honey, can I give you a little piece of advice? Free of charge, of course, and you'll thank me later…."

Ayase squinted his eyes with disbelief, he should not listen to this man, everything he had ever said was poison, but he admitted to himself that he was curious, and that kept him from walking away.

"Kanou's gone, baby, that's a done deal… don’t ask me how I know, but I know. He messed up with the king of 950A and he's not walking out of that shit alive; Elrick's not going to have it. Kanou is dead" Tom repeated "Get used to it, the sooner the better."

"Kanou is stronger than you think." Ayase answered "You're forgetting he put Elrick into a coma the last time they fought."

"Kanou is strong, alright" Tom agreed "but strength alone is not going to cut it, believe me Ayase, I know. There's a situation here and there are only two ways out of it."

"What situation?"

"A situation where I get to be the next Black leader and hand Kanou to Elrick to do with him whatever he fucking pleases or we all end up dead."

"Liar." Ayase breathed.

Tom shrugged "Whatever, Ayase, you don’t have to believe me, but things are already set on motion, it's bigger than me, and it is bigger than Kanou. It all ends here, downstairs, so I have no choice on the matter. Either I bring him down, or we are never getting upstairs alive, all of us Blacks, and the poor Blue bastards that were unlucky enough to join this ride. "

"Liar." Ayase insisted. Elrick was not smart enough to tie his own shoes alone, how could he pull off something this big? "You're bluffing; no way is Elrick that clever"

Tom glared at Ayase with surprise and delight "Snarky little thigh… Be careful how you talk about your next master, he doesn't take kindly to disrespect, ask his recently late candy. Anyway, he would not have been the king of 950A if he didn’t have some teeth to bite with, would he, sweetheart? Elrick is more than meets the eyes"

"Why are you telling me this? You know I'll tell Kanou, I'll tell him everything." Ayase worked out the words through his trembling mouth; chills ran through his body, he was barely steady on his feet.

Tom didn't blink at this, didn't even consider it a threat, he looked at Ayase as if staring at a rare, odd animal for a long time to make his bones melt. "Will you?" he asked with a smug. "What's your gain here? Look… Ayase…Eventually you're gonna die like the rest of us here, but in the meanwhile, don’t you want a run with the king of this rock? It will go along with some perks I assure you."

"I'll die before I let Elrick touch me." Ayase hissed in a low voice.

Tom studied the stubborn beauty for a while and his smile turned into a frown. "Whatever..." He nodded at last "Do that, if you think it makes any difference, Elrick might even appreciate your loyalty, Sweet pea, but I do wonder…"

"Wonder what?" Ayase asked after a short moment of annoying silence.

"I wonder what Kanou had done to earn this, your loyalty, I mean. Why is Kanou your favorite rapist?"

Ayase gasped, all the air got knocked of his lungs.

"I mean, for myself…" Tom continued "I'd kill to have this same loyalty from a candy."

"Get away from me!!" Ayase screamed at him. "Go away!"

Tom raised his hands up smiling. "Calm down, honey."

"Get away and never talk to me again!" Ayase said, tears running down his face.

"Well, I won't if we're all dead." Tom agreed smiling but he was backing off slowly all the same. "Cut me some slack, will you? Can't you see I'm trying to save everyone here?"

"Leave." Ayase insisted, whispering.

Tom let his hands down. "Well, thanks for the treatment, see you later." he grinned for the last time, turned his back and got away.   

Yet, what did Kanou do to earn his loyalty?

Did he even bother to do anything for it at all?

Was he loyal just because Kanou happened to be the strongest man in the Black team? Was that even loyalty or was it just survivor instincts? A cold, calculated decision? What does it say about him? What kind of a cold bitch he really has become?

What has 950A made out of him?

"Ayase?"

 

oOOo

 

Ayase sent a hand to wipe the tears from his face and turned his head to track down the weak voice that has called for him, and then found him on a cot nearby, Marcus.

Next to the bed of the old man was the Blue paramedic, that Ayase first met as his wave leader, and later learned his name- Miguel.

Ayase remembered that he wanted to visit Marcus first thing in the morning, but now it was stretching towards noon, or at least the watch on the wall said it was so, all hours on 950A seemed the same.

Have Marcus and Miguel heard his conversation with Tom? They were close by; at the very least they had heard him screaming at the guy, but did they bother to listen?  How much do they pick up?

Fuck it, it doesn't matter now, all that mattered was Marcus.

Ayase took a deep breath and walked towards them.

"Marcus…Hey…" He whispered while reaching the bed, and when close enough he leaned down and gave the old man a quick hug.

"I have to go." Miguel interrupted them with unease "Homare needs me outside. Have you made up your mind yet? What would it be?"

"Both options suck." Marcus smiled weakly at the blue team member. "Morphine would put me out like a candle and Insulin would be like blowing on a cinder."

"Sorry, but that's all I got."

"I know, Miguel, you're a good fella, I know."

"I must go."

"Fuck it…" Marcus whispered "Morphine it is. I've been stuck here long enough to deserve it, have I?"

"Yes, you have." The paramedic said, and started preparing the syringe.

"I can have this once, passing time getting high."

"Yes, you can, you've earned it." Miguel conformed and injected the morphine into Marcus IV bag. When he was done, he patted the old man's shoulder. "Enjoy, and don't forget to put back the oxygen mask."

"Thanks, man." And a sudden smile lit up Marcus's face, as the substance traveled down the tube and entered his bloodstream "Boy…Morphine is the best, I should have done this a lot sooner…"

"Ayase." Miguel nodded towards him and then departed, leaving Marcus and Ayase to themselves.

Ayase sat down on a chair next to the cot, and both he and Marcus studied each other for a while.

Marcus looked like a ghost of his former self, weaker, skinnier, his eyes had sunken, his lips had turned blue and his skin faded to grey.

"You look like shit." Marcus said, breaking the silence and Ayase could not help it and burst into a nervous giggle. "I mean it, candy-boy, you are the prettiest thing 950A has to offer, you should take a better care of yourself."

Ayase lowered his gaze and send a hand into his hair, trying to smooth his blonde locks without even realizing it. "Sorry." He managed to mumble after a while.

"For your own good." Marcus continued "Your looks is the only thing going for you around here, you cannot neglect it. You must eat well, sleep well and stay out of trouble."

"Yes, dad." Ayase whispered and it made Marcus shudder with a surprising violence to it.

"I'm not your daddy." Marcus corrected him quickly and coldly, and then looked up to the pale white lights on the wall. "My child is longtime dead and gone." He added with a low moan.

"I'm sorry." Ayase said and tears started flowing down his face again. "I didn't mean to… it was supposed to be a joke…"

"It's alright, kid, it's alright…" Marcus sent his hand searching and finding Ayase's to squeeze. "I'm too hard on you all the time, am I? It's unfair, but here, I'd listen… why are you so shaken up?"

"A long story." Ayase sighed.

"Do I look like I'm in some kind of hurry? I got my bed and my blanket and my morphine… I've got all the time in the world. What's eating you up? Is that Tom? Ignore him, he's an asshole."

"It's this place." Ayase answered rapidly, because it was an easy question. "It's like every time I think I got it figured out, every time I hope I understand enough to survive here, then it throws another punch at me to knock me out. This place is horrible, and dark and cruel and lonely."

"Downstairs has got to you, huh? Don't give yourself a hard time over it, it's your first time down, it will get easier."

Ayase shook his head, tears falling to the concrete floor. "No, it won’t." he almost wept, talking.

"No, it won’t." Marcus agreed and took a deep breath, gaping into the blank space.

This place will kill him, first his soul, then his body and finally his mind. If only he had the courage to take that blue pill when he had the chance, but he had wasted it, and now that pill is hidden, tucked away in a hideout upstairs, so far out of reach.

He hid it because he wanted to live and it was too tempting to keep it on hand, but now this business with Tom and the Red king of 950A, it was too much, but also too late.

"950A is just a tiny ice cold rock in space." Marcus continued "but the ones living here had made it into a fuming, boiling hell. Cannot believe I've lasted for almost 15 years… but I'm nearly done now, so…I guess no one trumps the statistics."

Another cold wave of anxiety washed all over Ayase's already exhausted body. "No, don't say it, you cannot die!" he pleaded with a breathy moan. "I need you! You can't leave me here all alone."

Marcus smiled at this, closing his eyes to the pale light. "Unless someone on this rock figures out how to grow me a new heart and transplants it, it is safe to say I have weeks, months at best. I don't mind going, though, I did my time." He looked so serene, Ayase nearly envied him. 

 "Please Marcus, don’t leave me here alone." He pleaded again, knowing this was totally selfish and highly illogical to beg for. "I don’t know how to live here without you."

"If you want to survive this place, you'd better find a better incentive than me, Candy-boy." Marcus mumbled, smiling. "Something within your most inner core of being, something unwavering that does not depend on outer circumstances; something that will not falter no matter what shit is thrown your way."

"Like what?"

"I don’t know, Ayase, it's a private thing."

"What is yours?"

"Mine?" Marcus chuckled and averted his eyes to stare into Ayase's, and the boy blushed.

Maybe he crossed a line, maybe this was too personal.

"Mine…" Marcus eased into his bed, averting his gaze again, staring into the emptiness of space above him. "Mine's no good." He concluded.

"I'm sorry."

"But if you insist, I might as well… nothing left to protect anyway. You want to know the reason I managed to survive 15 years here? The reason I got up for the line up every fucking morning? The reason I bowed my head to thugs and bullies and even sucked a cock every now and then when necessary… that reason, yeah?

"Yes…" Ayase whispered.

"Well, that's an easy one, boy, I did all this, swallowed every piece of crap that 950A shoved down my throat and smiled and begged for more because I deeply, honestly, truthfully believed that I've earned it. It was I who rose against the Union, it was I who fought to get the truth out about what was going on the Led type planet I was assigned to, and it was I who got my family killed, so there you have it, my reason. Every time things got rough around here, all I needed to do is remember my wife's and daughter's bodies, lying in a puddle of blood on the floor, remember their blank, dead eyes, their limp, cold flesh and know- that my time here was well deserved and awfully due."

Ayase gasped, and then fell into silence, letting Marcus's words sink in, and they were cold and heavy as led, and as much poisonous. He had no idea of when and how to respond.

"I was a naïve, pretentious bugger." Marcus continued after a while "Thinking that I had an obligation as a doctor to fight the noble fight, thinking that if I spill the beans, I'd make the difference. If I let people know how the Union deliberately designed damaged, degenerate humans to stock up the ranks of the lowest, demeaning jobs on Led worlds, they'd rise up against it and do something to rectify this horrible injustice. But no, not Gold, nor the Silver or the Copper took any note of it, not a ripple in the puddle, everyone walked by on their marry way, and my beloved wife and child paid with their lives for it. Told you, it wasn't a good one…"

Ayase sobbed softly, crumpled on his chair, and Marcus looked at him, long and hard before speaking again.

"I'm sorry Ayase, please forgive me, I didn’t mean to burden you with my load. This cannot be helpful to you in any way, you look like someone who cannot hurt a fly, and you're so very young, I bet you did nothing wrong to get here."

"I… No… They've said I was a traitor but… I've done nothing…. Really, nothing… " Ayase struggled to answer through his sobs.

"Then it is obvious that someone who loves you had done damage to the Union, enough to make them suffer by knowing that you were put here for their fault."

"What?"

"That's how the Union operates, Ayase, same as me and my family. Think about it, who could it be? Who cares about you enough to get affected by your suffering?"

"Everyone I know is dead." Ayase said in dismay.

Marcus shrugged. "Well, someone must be alive and under the pressure of your imprisonment, that's how many candies end up here."

"My father is dead, my aunt, my grandmother, my pet goldfish…"

"Whoever he or she might be, they may think that you are already dead as well."

Aren’t we all? Ayase thought but said nothing.

"If you wish to go on living, son, you must find your reason, something to carry you on through this hell. What would it be? "

Ayase shook his head.

"Well, it'd better be something solid if you want to beat the one year statistic for candies. If you're heading for the long run, like Hall…"

But that was it, wasn't it? He wasn't sure if he had wanted this at all.

And there was the whole Tom situation, not to be ignored.

"Thank you, Marcus, I'll have to think about it. I hope you get well." Ayase got up and patted the old man's shoulder. "Thanks for the talk."

"Yeah, yeah… candy-boy, now leave me alone."

 

 

 

 

oOOo

What would it be? What should it be? Is there any reason for it at all? Surviving 950A for what? For whom? Just for spite? 

Kanou, Zack, Hall, Homare, Misao, what was their motivation? What kept them going? Candy, Juju, Gion… what made them get up every morning and continue their run? Like hamsters on their wheel, running and running just to stay in place.

Was there any reason at all? Or was it just a habit?

At the afternoon the firsts injured came in, arriving with minor cuts and bruises, from a rockslide in one of the mine sites, so he assisted Miguel in treating them, then the Blue paramedic went out again.

Later came some mining teams who had finished their shift for that day, most of which, Ayase did not know, but Hall's team. He tried to talk to him, but Hall ignored his approach.

Dinner he ate alone, he refused Tom's invitation to join his team for company.

In that evening, he went into the showers, but found Hall fucking Candy over there, so he hurried to retreat, and when he tried again, he found Tom and two of his men there, fucking Candy as well, so he figured out that there would be no shower for him that night.

Kanou never showed up, and neither Zack or the Kuba brothers.

He visited Marcus again, but found the man sleeping, so he let him rest undisturbed and crawled into his own sleeping bedroll instead.

It was late, the lights faded from bright white to soft orange, and the few people in the pit had settled in for the night. Soon nothing but snores and mechanical hums had disturbed the eerie silence of the pit.

Yet, Ayase's mind was far from quiet, he had so many thoughts running amok in his brain, crushing into each other, falling and getting up to run again. Who was that person suffering from him being imprisoned in 950A? He never thought he had mattered to anyone, at least not so much to be placed here as a punishment to the other. Did Kanou know that person? What else Kanou knew and hid from him?

Better let it go, for the sake of his sanity, for the sake of sleep.

He opened his tablet to see if his Spook was doing any good tonight, but it was nowhere to be found, and he didn’t know if he was relived or disappointed for it.

So cold.

Ayase borrowed into his blankets, but could not chase away the chill. It was a relentless presence so alive and intimate, like a person breathing down his neck and it was going to win over in time, freeze his heart, and wipe out all humanity out of him, until nothing is left but a beautiful unattached doll, like Candy, probably.

Sleep would not come.

Sleep never came to him easily, and in 950A it was even harder, more difficult to lure it into an empty bed.

He battled the need for a while, but could not resist it for much longer. He needed to hear that voice, just this once, just a few words of comfort, maybe it would help him sleep.

He considered the prons and cons for a while before giving up and pressing the number on his communicator, 83.

"This subscriber number is currently offline." An automated response informed him.

Again, 83.

"This subscriber number is currently offline."

Again?

"This subscriber number is currently offline."

Ayase gave up and cried himself to sleep.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I claim rights to nothing.


End file.
